I'm a Girl, With Demon Ghosts as Friends
by niirasri
Summary: Inuyasha and his friends have died, and now, in the present, they must rely on one girl, her friends, and the Spirit Detectives to regain their lives! -COMPLETE-
1. In a Foggy Hell

AiShi: Hello peeps! This is my first published fanfiction that I wrote, so tell me if it sucks. I can tell you that it will be updated at least twice a month (unless I notify you otherwise) and other than that...I think a disclaimer is in order!

AiShi84 does NOT own InuYasha or YuYu-Hakusho, it'd be awesome if I did, but considering I don't...eh, well. Just enjoy the story!

* * *

Inuyasha glared at the thick blanket of fog that surrounded him. First appearing a couple of hours ago as a light mist, it had steadily developed into the what seemed endless scenery of white. He held up his hand to his face and waved it, only seeing its dark shape.

'_Damn,_' he cursed in his head. '_If this stupid fog would clear up, we could actually be _doing_ something!'_

His thoughts were interrupted, however, when something slammed into him, making Inuyasha fall flat on his face. Whipping around, he grabbed his Tetsusaiga, ready to fight the dark shape standing over him…

"Oh! Sorry Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice floated out of the mist.

Inuyasha let go of his sword.

"Watch where you're going next time!" the half-demon growled.

"Well SORRY! I can't exactly see in this mess!" Kagome retorted.

Just as Inuyasha was about to respond, another voice was heard from the white.

"It's not her fault," a female voice pointed out. "No one can hope to see with mist as thick as this."

Recognizing the voice to be Sango's, Inuyasha looked through the fog until he saw her faint outline.

"Indeed," another voice added, "you can't blame Lady Kagome."

Seeing Miroku's blurry outline as well, Inuyasha snorted.

"Feh," he responded, getting up off the ground, "How can we be sure this isn't one of Naraku's traps? It's unnatural for fog to be this thick!"

"I _told_ you," the monk said sighing. "There's no demonic aura anywhere around here."

"Yeah!" Shippo's voice rang out, coming from Miroku's direction. "Even Kagome can't feel anything!"

The young fox demon was right, Kagome didn't sense anything suspicious.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it, let's just keep moving." Kagome told them, walking a few steps ahead. "Come on InuyashAHHHHHHH!"

"Kagome!" they all shouted as her shadow disappeared.

Inuyasha ran to where Kagome had vanished.

"Kagom-"But he was cut off as he disappeared too.

"W-What's going on?" Shippo yelled, crawling on top of Miroku's head.

Before the monk or demon slayer could answer, however, they both vanished on the spot as well.

"Oh no!" Shippo yelled as he fell to the forest floor. Now only he and Kilala were left, both staring at the place where their friends had been seconds before. Running to see where they had gone, they both disappeared into the white.

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"Oh dear oh dear oh deardeardearydear."

Inuyasha stirred.

"The hell…?" he questioned groggily, sitting up slowly. This was a big mistake, as his head felt like it was going to split in two from the sudden movement. Holding his head, he tried to focus his vision as he looked around. His sight clearing up, he was able to see Kagome, Sango, Shippo, Miroku, and Kilala laying to the left of him. Inuyasha let out a relieved sigh, Kagome was safe. Suddenly, he tensed up. Quickly, he whipped around ready to fight, and came face to face with a girl with blue hair.

She blinked.

"Hello there."

Inuyasha stared at her. Regaining his composure, he glared at her suspiciously. She wasn't a demon, he was sure of that, but something about her just wasn't right. Deciding to take no chances, he reached for his Tetsusaiga…his Tetsusaiga! It wasn't there!

"You need this?" the girl asked him, holding up the Tetsusaiga. "I figured you would try that."

Inuyasha growled at her.

"Who in all the hells are you?" he asked, still glaring.

Not seeming to have heard him, the girl walked over to the others and examined them.

"Hm, just fainted, they'll be a-okay!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

Inuyasha was getting annoyed.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" he yelled at her.

The blue-haired girl turned around. Smiling, she responded,

"I'm Botan, a guide of departed souls, at your service!"

Inuyasha stared.

The short silence was broken by his friends coming-to.

"Uhhnnn…" Kagome moaned, sitting up. Gazing around, she saw she wasn't in Kansas anymore.

"Hey Inuyasha… where are we?" she asked, absorbing their new surroundings. She noticed that they were out of the fog, and sitting on a grassy bank across from a large river.

"A river…weren't we in a forest before?" Kagome questioned, failing to notice Botan.

By now Sango, Shippo, Miroku, and Kilala had revived and were looking around also.

Inuyasha, getting impatient, scowled. Turning to Botan, he asked her,

"Where are we?"

"Well…" she started thoughtfully, "Right now you're along the River Styx."

Kagome, Miroku, and Sango stared at her. (yes they finally noticed her) Inuyasha, not being one for fairy tales, and Shippo, who had never heard of it, just looked at her questioningly. Suddenly, Kagome started laughing.

"That's…funny!" she gasped between giggles.

Botan sighed and scratched her head.

"Well, that's one way to take it."

"But, no, we can't…" Sango stuttered, trying to find a loophole. No loopholes were to be found.

"That's _another _way to take it."

Miroku just kept staring.

"Another way…"

And Inuyasha and Shippo both looked completely clueless.

"And, wow! I think you all just reacted to death in nearly every way possible!" Botan exclaimed, smiling once again.

"DEATH?" Shippo and Inuyasha yelped, falling over.

"Biting the dust, kicking the bucket, retiring permanently, whatever floats your boat," she continued.

Kagome was now on the ground, clutching her sides, and laughing manically.

"Oh dear..." Botan said, shooting a worried look at Kagome.

"So you're telling me," Kagome laughed, "that you're the Grim Reaper, and you're wearing pink!"

Botan blinked.

"The Grim what?" she questioned.

This snapped the poor girl from her hysteria.

"Oh, well," Kagome started, "you'll probably hear of it later…"

"Ah!" Botan realized. "You're the amazing time-traveling priestess!"

"Huh? How did you know about me?" asked a taken-aback Kagome.

"Oh, you're the talk of the Spirit World! Always jumping into that portal and traveling between times, everyone's heard of you! It takes a good bit of people working to keep your well up and running."

Kagome blushed.

"Wow, sorry to be so much trouble…"

"It's no trouble at all kiddo, that portal keeps the dimensions balanced out," she explained.

Shippo and Inuyasha, clearly panicking, started bombarding the poor spirit guide with questions.

"WADDAYA MEAN 'DEATH'?"

"I can't die! I'm too young!"

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

Sango, who had stopped searching in vain for a way out, asked a very reasonable question,

"How did we die?"

Botan sighed.

"Well, it seems you stumbled across a portal to the Spirit World, but falling through it…well…destroyed your bodies from what I've gathered."

"Why was there a Spirit World portal?" asked Kagome.

Botan sweatdropped.

"Uh," she started, "that was a blunder from us I'm afraid…So your deaths were basically completely pointless!"

This is not what Inuyasha needed to hear, and showed it by advancing towards Botan with his talons. Just as he was about to strike, he was interrupted by laughter.

Everyone looking around, they were shocked to see Miroku laughing and holding up his cursed hand.

"Amazing," he laughed, "amazing that I was doomed to die at the foolish actions of another realm instead of this hellhole I possess."

As he continued laughing, the group shot him a worried look.

"I don't think he's taking this too well…" commented Shippo.

Botan sighed.

"They usually don't, I just handle it like this…" Then, making an oar appear out of nowhere, she walked right up to him and whacked him on the head with it.

"OW!" Miroku yelled, clutching his head.

"Better?" Botan asked.

"Not really… NO DON'T HIT ME AGAIN!" he yelped as he dodged the very dangerous oar.

"Just doin' my job," said a smiling Botan.

Sango looked at Botan.

"Is my father here?"

They turned to look at her.

Botan gave her a warm smile.

"Yes," she answered, "and Shippo's parents and Miroku's grandfather and father, they're all happy," she responded.

Inuyasha, having calmed down a bit put on a grave expression. (Ha! I made a pun!)

"And what about my mother? What about her?" he demanded.

"Your mother is fine," Botan explained.

"Where is she? Is she across here?" he asked, pointing to the river.

"Well, yes…hold it kiddo!" Botan exclaimed, grabbing the hanyou's ear just before he leaped.

"DAMMIT WENCH!" Inuyasha cursed as he struggled. "LET GO OF ME!"

"Not quite yet! Set foot on the other side and there's no going back!"

This kept Inuyasha at bay for a moment, for he stopped flailing.

"What the hell do you mean by 'going back'? We're dead aren't we?"

"Technically," she started, "but you can return back."

"How?" asked a desperate Kagome and Shippo.

"Well, I could-what do you think you're doing Sango?" Botan yelped, seeing the demon slayer wading through the water.

Sango turned to the group.

"I'm going to see my village," she said simply.

"Didn't you hear what she said Sango?" Shippo asked her.

"I've lived long enough, and death is pretty fine from what I've seen. Kohaku…" she paused, trailing her finger through the water, "Kohaku won't live much longer."

They all stared at her.

"But there's so much to live for," Miroku said, trying to change her mind.

"Sango…" Kagome started, but was interrupted by Inuyasha.

"Listen Sango, you do what you want, but we can't save you if you change your mind! Got it?"

She nodded.

"I'll be seeing you," Sango smiled at them. "Hopefully not too soon." And with that she waded the rest of the way through and stepped out on the other side.

Kilala, not wanting her friend to leave, also stepped into the river.

"Kilala, get out!" Sango yelled at her companion, wanting Kilala to have another chance at life.

Surprised at the demon slayer's actions, the cat demon stepped back out of the water. Meowing mournfully, Kilala looked across at Sango. Shippo went up to her and gave Kilala a hug.

Inuyasha turned back to Botan.

"Well? How are we going to come back alive?" he demanded.

"Usually you have to take a test, but Koenma doesn't know about the runaway portal and probably doesn't have a test at the moment, so I'm going to open a portal to the future and I'll make sure he has something ready for you then."

"Wait, what?" Kagome and Inuyasha exclaimed.

Botan slammed her oar into a tree. The tree cracked open, developing a wide hole, just enough for them to fit through.

"Wait a second, you're not-"

"Bye! See you soon!"

And with Botan waving good-bye, the hole grew rapidly and soon engulfed Inuyasha, Shippo, Kilala, Miroku, and Kagome. Blinded by the white flash, Sango opened her eyes to see her friends had disappeared.

"Where did they go?"

"Oh," Botan replied, "about five centuries into the future. C'mon, I'll show you around the Spirit World."

Sango backed away from Botan.

"Uh, no thanks, I'll explore by myself."

Waving to the seemingly crazy spirit guide, Sango ran into the forest as quickly as she could.

"Odd," Botan commented, "they never asked about Hell, usually people do that…"

AiShi: Well, end of chappy one. The next chapter should actually get the story rolling with the main characters. And for all you Sango fans, she will be back! Don't worry! Please review!

DO NOT TRY TO EAT A HIGHLIGHTER.


	2. I'm Really Feeling That Water Now

AiShi: My friends were bugging me to get this one out and it's almost October anyway...(Get candy, IT'S FREE!) so I thought I'd get it over with. This one's just...wait...why do I have to explain myself? I'm the authoress! BWAHAHAHA BOW DOWN TO MY SUPERIORITY!...Or don't, I guess it's your choice...

AiShi84 DOES NOT OWN PRINGLES!

* * *

Aki Seithr gazed out her window into the gray as raindrops lightly tapped onto the windowsill. She watched as two of the drops seemed to race each other to the bottom of the glass, then sighing, leaned back into her bed pillows. Absentmindedly, she started to finger-comb her brown blonde-streaked hair. Grabbing and flipping through her notebook, Aki's bright green eyes skimmed the pages full of writing and sketches. Coming to a blank sheet, she folded the other pages back and poised her pencil above it, waiting for inspiration. After waiting for a couple minutes with nothing coming to her, she rubbed her eyes behind her glasses and looked outside again. It was gorgeous weather in her opinion, a gray autumn weekend afternoon complete with a heavy downpour. Suddenly the phone rang, snapping the fourteen-year old out of her thoughts. Leaning back, Aki snatched the phone from the receiver and brought it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, you know what really sucks?"

Aki grinned hearing her friend Moriko Takimi's voice from the other end of the phone.

"Well, I know a lot of things that suck, what exactly did you have in mind?" she asked Moriko.

"Amy got her duct tape taken away," replied Moriko.

"You're kidding!"

"I kid you not."

Amaya Shomori, shortened to Amy, was one of Aki's best friends. However, she was gothic, and being gothic meant that she was watched by adults like hawks.

"What happened?" Aki asked.

"I dunno, the principal's seen her with it a hundred times, he must've just decided to ruin someone's day and VIP! Confiscated it."

"Dude, that sucks."

"Tell me about it…I have Pringles!" Moriko exclaimed.

Aki laughed.

"The same ones from yesterday?"

"No, new ones."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, they have the little paper thingy on top."

"Stupid paper thingy."

"Yeah…hey, you know what?"

"What?"

"We should get Amy to wear a pentacle to school and see if they take it away."

"You mean a five point star?"

"Yep."

"I bet they would."

"I know…uh oh, my mom's telling me to get off the phone." Moriko told Aki, annoyance in her voice.

Aki sighed.

"Your turn or my turn to hang up?

"I think it's yours."

"Okay, poe."

"Poe."

Hanging up the phone in a better mood, Aki went back to the blank piece of paper. However, after ten minutes with a blank paper still before her, Aki gave up. She looked at the alarm clock on her beside table, it read 2:09. Leaning back into her pillow, Aki closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She loved the smell of rain. Turning on her side, she relaxed and her breathing became slower and calmer as she fell asleep.

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#CRACK#

Aki awoke from her nap; blinking she reached blindly for her beside lamp. Finding the knob she turned it and a soft light filled the room. Squinting in the light with her eyes used to the dark, she saw that her clock said it was now 7:43.

"Oh god," she said stretching. "Must've fallen asleep."

#BOOM#

The noise vibrated through the house, shaking Aki fully awake.

"The lightning woke me up, how bad did the storm get…?"

Looking outside, it was impossible to see with the reflection of the light in the windowpanes. Turning off her lamp so she could see better, she was just in time to witness a huge bolt of lightning come down from the sky a couple miles away.

"Geez…" Aki muttered, fascinated by the storm. A couple more flashes of lightning lit up the sky, always followed by a boom of thunder that shook Aki to her bones. Now watching the storm intently, she was surprised to see a bolt of lightning strike right in the center of her back yard.

"Holy shit!" she yelled, running to her bedroom door and yanking it open. Running down her upstairs hallway, she sprinted down the stairs and ran through her kitchen to get to the back door. She didn't know what she would do if something was on fire, Aki figured that she should confirm that something was ablaze before she called the fire department. Grabbing the door handle and forcing it down, she swung the door open and ran out into the rain. Seeing a small crater in the middle of her back yard she groaned…until she saw that something was in it. Through the wall of water Aki could only see three dark shapes.

"Oh my god! Did people get hit?" she yelped, running toward the indent. As she drew closer, however, she slowed down when she heard voices.

"Great! Just where are we now?"

"I don't know, but getting angry isn't going to solve anything."

"Shut up Miroku!"

"INUYASHA!"

#WHACK#

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

"WE NEED TO SEE WHERE WE ARE AND ARGUEING IS _NOT_ GOING TO HELP!"

Aki stopped. How the hell if they were hit could they still be alive? Shaking her head quickly, she realized that these people could still be hurt. Jogging closer to the crater she yelled out,

"Are you guys okay? Do you need help?"

The voices ceased as Aki's voice was heard.

"Hello?" one of the shapes called, sounding like a female. "Can you help us?"

"Yeah, what do you-?" she cut herself off as she had finally drawn close enough to see the shapes clearly. Her eyes grew wide as she saw a small child with orange hair on the shoulder of a guy who was dressed in some kind of robes. To the right of them was a teenage girl with straight black hair in a school uniform holding a cream-colored cat. Looking left, she saw another guy who was dressed in what looked like a red kimono and he had pure white hair, even though he looked no older than sixteen. This was not what shocked her though, the fact that he had some kind of animal ears did.

"Uh um I uh…" Aki stuttered, clearly amazed.

"Sorry to bother you," the schoolgirl started, bowing her head, "but could you tell us where we are and what year it is?"

Aki managed to gather that bit of information,

"We're in Nagoya, Japan and it's 2006."

"…"

"Something wrong?" Aki asked.

"Yeah something's wrong! We went through hell only to be thrown into the future!" the guy with animal ears said.

As you can now imagine, poor Aki was confused beyond belief. Unfortunately for her, things would only get less understandable.

"What?" she questioned, her head pounding.

The schoolgirl gave Aki a pitying look.

"This might be a little unbelievable, but we're from the past…and we died about 500 years ago I suppose."

"So you're…ghosts?" Aki asked her, still confused and majorly freaked out, "But how can I _see_ you then?"

The girl frowned.

"I'm not sure, maybe you are a bit psychic? After all I've seen I wouldn't be surprised…"

"What?" Aki's head was spinning, she hadn't felt this pressured since she missed school for a week and then walked into English class.

"My name's Kagome," the girl said, trying to add some normal information, "and that's Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippo," she added, gesturing to the others.

"And that's Kilala," the little boy said, pointing to the cat.

Shippo's small motion revealed his fluffy tail, which only caused Aki to become more confused then ever.

Kagome looked worried as if Aki might collapse any minute.

"My…my name's Aki," she managed to tell them, "…and sorry if I'm rude…but why does he have animal ears?" she asked, pointing to Inuyasha.

The guy Kagome called Miroku spoke up this time,

"Inuyasha's dog ears are one of his demon traits, and forgive me for asking but would you be willing to-"

"Miroku!" Kagome hissed.

"Ummm," Aki started, "would you guys like to come inside?" Thanking god that her parents were away for the weekend, she gestured towards her house.

Kagome smiled.

"Thank you Aki."

A few minutes later they were all in Aki's kitchen. Just now realizing that she was waterlogged, Aki stood over a carpet so a puddle wouldn't form on the wooden floors.

"Hey, um, why aren't you guys wet at all?"

"Since we're ghosts I guess we didn't feel the rain, but you must be freezing," Shippo observed.

"Nah, I'm not affected by temperature," Aki explained. "Hey, will you guys excuse me for a minute?"

"Whatever," Inuyasha said, looking around at the shiny appliances.

Running into her room, Aki grabbed the phone and punched in Moriko's number. She waited as the phone rang on the other end until,

"Hullo?"

"Moriko?"

"Aki? What's up?"

"I see dead people."

"And I see dust particles but that doesn't change much now does it?"

"And one of them has dog ears."

"……………………………………I'm _really_ feeling that water now…"

* * *

AiShi: Well, second chapter done and out. Review pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaasse? With sprinkles ontop? XD 

FLUFFY HAS SPRINKLES ONTOP


	3. Questions, Answers, Meat Knife and Spork

AiShi: Fweeoo. Done! Sorry it took a little longer to update, I had LOTS of projects because teachers are just SOOOOOO nice! Letseeeeee...that's about it...I guess all that's left is to enjoy peeps!

AiShi84 does not own anything EXCEPT the plot line, Aki, Moriko, and Amaya(who's role will become more pronounced in the next few chapters).

* * *

"You need to come over."  
"Okay, I'll be over in a sec."  
"Poe."  
"Poe."  
Aki hung up the phone; she needed Moriko over here to help her deal with her dead guests. She wasn't worried about if Moriko could see them or not, if Aki was psychic, then Moriko definitely was. Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass cut through the house, causing Aki to jump about three feet in the air. She quickly dashed into the kitchen to see Kagome breathing rapidly (I know ghosts don't breathe, it's a figure of speech people.) and standing next to one of Aki's mother's shattered blue china plates.  
"I-I-I went inside it!" she gasped, still trying to calm down.  
"Hey, it's okay, you probably just possessed it," Aki told her, trying to help.  
"And since when are you an expert on all things dead?" Inuyasha asked sarcastically.  
Aki was taken aback.  
"I'm not!"  
Kagome, now having recovered (whoa, quick recovery O.o) glared at Inuyasha.  
"Hey! Give her a break Inuyasha," she scolded him.  
Inuyasha "feh"d and went back to looking at all the futuristic appliances.  
"So lemme get this straight Kagome," Shippo started, "you were in a plate?"  
"Uhhhh…I think so."  
"So…you were in the plate…and you moved it?"  
"Yeah, I accidentally walked into it…literally…Sorry about the plate Aki."  
"That's all right, my mom won't kill me too much." She smiled, grabbing a broom from the closet. "Alright, who wants to possess this broom and help me clean up?"  
Shippo grinned.  
"I will!" and with that, he jumped straight at the broom…and into it.  
Suddenly, the broom started moving by itself.  
"Oh my god!" Aki laughed. "It actually works!"  
The very handy broom then swept up the bits of broken china into the bag that Aki had laid on the ground, then, its job done, out popped Shippo.  
"That was great!" he exclaimed, throwing up his arms for effect.  
The chime of Aki's doorbell rang through the kitchen.  
"Hang on guys, I'll bet it's Moriko," Aki told them and the alarmed Inuyasha and Miroku who were ready to attack the source of the noise. Running into the hallway and almost tripping over a bunched-up section of carpet, she opened the door to see Moriko standing there. Her wavy-almost-curly brown hair drenched and her glasses covered with water, she looked like a drowned rat.  
"Take me to your leader, so I can get out of the damn rain," she laughed, and then stepped inside on the rug.  
Aki laughed along with her.  
"They're in the kitchen, oh honored guest."  
Moriko grinned.  
"Well then, what the hell are we in a hallway for when there are ghosts about? Onward I do say!" she exclaimed as she pointed dramatically towards the kitchen.  
Following her into the kitchen giggling, the look on Moriko's face when she caught sight of her dead guests was priceless.  
"Hi, you're Moriko right? It's nice to meet you," Kagome greeted her, holding out her hand.  
'_I guess it _is_ possible to forget you're dead…_' Aki thought, a little surprised.  
Moriko however, acted like it was completely normal to shake a ghost's hand. But when she reached out and tried to touch Kagome, her hand went right through hers.  
Kagome blushed.  
"Whoops, I forgot…" she muttered.  
Moriko grinned.  
"That's alright, Aki forgets everything too."  
"Oh thanks," Aki laughed.  
"Who the hell are you?" asked an impatient Inuyasha, folding his arms. His glare was interrupted though by Miroku whapping him upside the head with his staff.  
"You must be respectful to a lady," he explained.  
"Who the hell are you?" Moriko copied, asking Inuyasha the same question.  
Inuyasha smirked.  
"You learn quick don't you?"  
"Not really," Moriko answered.  
Aki noticed Miroku glancing around the room.  
"What's up?" she asked him.  
"It's…faint…but I almost sense a demonic aura around here."  
"A what? Huh? How?" Aki asked him, obviously oblivious to anything.  
"Miroku's a monk, he knows things like this," Shippo explained, the little fox curiously poking his seemingly nonexistent finger through the wall.  
"And the demon part?"  
This time Kagome spoke up.  
"Uh, demons give off a sort of energy."  
"And Shippo and Inuyasha are demons?" Moriko asked, now staring at Inuyasha's dog ears.  
"Basically," Miroku answered.  
"Okay, I think we need a question and answer time," Aki suggested.  
Kagome nodded.  
"My turn!" Moriko immediately volunteered. "Why do you have doggy ears?" she asked, pointing at Inuyasha.  
Inuyasha stared at her for a second before answering.  
"I'm a demon idiot."  
"Half-demon," Miroku corrected.  
"But then why does Shippo doesn't have fox ears?"  
"All demons are made different? We don't really know," Kagome tried to explain.  
"My turn!" Shippo shouted, and then pointed at Aki. "Can we stay here? I like it!"  
Aki raised her eyebrows.  
"I dunno, maybe," she responded. "I call this turn then. How are you guys here right now?"  
"We died, we went to a realm of the dead, met the Spirit Guide who told us we get another shot at life, then warped us into this hell," Inuyasha told her.  
"Wow, you get to the point."  
Kagome smiled.  
"My turn, Aki, what grade are you in?"  
Aki was a little surprised at the normality of this question, but then answered,  
"I'm a freshman at Nagoya Main High, so is Moriko."  
"I believe it is my turn," Miroku said, stepping forward. "Would either of you beautiful young ladies care to bear me a child?"  
Aki stared at him, dumbfounded, while Moriko reached for the meat knife on the kitchen table. Just as Aki had drawn back her hand and was ready to slap him all the way to next September, Shippo hit them all with a jackhammer of logic.

"How? Miroku's dead."

Aki and Moriko both stopped in mid-strike.

Miroku sighed.

"The downside of being a spirit."

"YOU PERVERT!" they screeched.

Kagome, who had been shaking her head this entire time, looked at Inuyasha.

"Do something will ya?" she asked him, pointing to Miroku.

Inuyasha didn't need to be told twice. In less than a second he had crossed the room and whapped the monk on the head.

Shippo sighed.

"Idiot," he muttered.

Once Moriko and Aki had calmed down a bit, they let go of their weapons. (Aki had managed to grab hold of a plastic spork after Moriko had begun wielding her meat knife.)

Aki leaned back against the cream-colored kitchen wall.

"Well, sounds like you guys need some help and Shippo had a marvelous idea, wanna stay here until you sort things out?" she offered.

"Thank you, thank you, and thank you!" Kagome praised her, bowing her head repeatedly.

Aki smiled and was about to respond when Moriko let out a squeal.

"AWWWWWWWWW! It's so CUTE! Can I keep?" she asked, pointing to Kilala who had just wandered into the kitchen.

Aki sweatdropped.  
"Mor, it's a demon cat ghost, what do you think?"

"YAY!" Moriko cheered. Though, when she bent down and tried to pick Kilala up, her arms went right through her. "Aw man…"

Aki sweatdropped again.

"You idiot, even if you _could _pick her up, you couldn't keep her. She's Kagome's."

At this comment, they all fell silent.

Aki paused.

"Did I say something? Sorry, I didn't mean to…" she apologized. Looking towards Moriko, Aki saw that she was confused as she was.

"It's okay, one of our friends just decided to stay behind," Kagome explained.

"In the Spirit World?" Moriko asked.

"Yeah, you need it spelled out?" Inuyasha remarked, although his drooping ears gave away that he was sad inside at Sango's leaving too.

"I'm really sorry…" Aki felt bad that she had just brought up such a painful subject. Even looking at Kilala she could tell the cat demon was very saddened by the absence of her owner.

Suddenly, they were all blinded by two bright lights coming from the hallway. Moriko, recovering the quickest, peaked around the doorframe into Aki's hall.

"…Hey Akiiiiii?" she started slowly, "I thought you said your parents were away for the weekend…?"

Aki scrambled to where Moriko was standing and looked around the corner.

"Ohhhhhh crap."

* * *

AiShi: Bwahaha, behold a pathetic cliffhanger! I'm sure you're just DYING to have me update eh? (note sarcasm) 

IT LOOKS LIKE PACMAN!

(Don't own him neither.)


	4. Kudos to Everybody!

AiShi: Yo peeps. Okay, I'm updating every ten daysuntil the end of November because I got myself into a messy promise. Curse me. But, hey...I'm probably going to go easy on myself though and update only once in December. Cause for once I'm thinking ahead...wow.

AiShi84 doesn't own Kudos, and doesn't know who does.

* * *

Aki gulped.

"Uh-oh."

Seeing her friend in a moment of panic, Moriko took charge.

"Aki, HIDE THEM YOU RETARD DON'T JUST STAND THERE!"

Aki jumped and then immediately whipped around to face Kagome and the others.

"Hey guys?" she started, "My parents will most likely freak out if they see ghosts…especially demon ghosts…so can you, like, hide?"

"Sure, where do you want us?" Kagome asked.

"Uh, they almost never go in my room so can you go there?" Aki asked, a little desperate.

"Lead the way," Miroku told her.

"Right, LEAVING GATE 27 FOR A DEPARTURE TO AKI'S BEDROOM!" she yelled, running down the hallway and upstairs into her bedroom.

Shippo and Kilala happily followed after her and bounded up the stairs.

Kagome looked at Inuyasha and Miroku.

"Well, she's a little crazy but I think we can trust her." With that said, Kagome followed the three upstairs, followed by Inuyasha and Miroku.

Once they were all in the room, Aki seemed to have "perfect" hiding places scouted out.

"Okay, Shippo and Kilala…you two can go in the empty drawer on the bottom," she told them, pointing to her dresser. "And you guys…one of you can go under my bed and the other two can hide in my closet."

"What's a closet?" Miroku and Inuyasha asked her.

"It's that sliding door thing over there," she said, pointing to her fairly large closet. "And looks like you two are stuck with it because Kagome already claimed under the bed."

Suddenly, Moriko's nervous voice floated into Aki's room.

"Uh, Mr. and Mrs. Seithr! Aki invited me over so uhhh…we could watch the thunderstorm together! She didn't know you were going to be back this early!"

"Quick! Get in there!" Aki hissed to the two.

This time, Aki's parents were heard.

"We would've stayed longer if we won our case but unfortunately we lost."

'_Damn lawyers and their unpredictable schedules,'_ Aki cursed silently. Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps coming upstairs.

"Well, if Aki invited you over she shouldn't be hiding in her room; I'll get her out of there."

"No really Mrs. Seithr, it's okay-!"

"Nonsense, you're our guest."

Miroku and Inuyasha, having finally gotten into the closet, were packed like sardines, but at the moment Aki didn't care. She quickly slid her closet door over them and whipped around just as her mother opened the door.

"Aki, what do you think you're doing up here and not down with Moriko?" she scolded her.

"I was getting a flashlight incase the power went out! Can't I do that?" she responded, rattling off a random excuse while pretending to be annoyed.

"You know we have a generator."

"Yeah, but it runs on gasoline. You _told _me not to use gasoline remember?"

Aki's mother sighed.

"You're right, but go down there with Moriko."

"'Kay."

Once Aki's mom had gone into her own room and closed the door, Aki turned around.

"Sorry guys, I'll be right back okay? Don't move," she told them.

"Like we have a choice!" the muffled voice of Inuyasha complained.

Aki went out into the hall and then slid down the staircase rail to where Moriko was standing.

"You're going to fall off one day, and I'm going to laugh," she said, grinning.

"Yeah? Well save it until that day, ghost-buster-in-training," Aki laughed.

"Well, I'll leave _you_ to handle your little spooky problem, while_ I _go home and go to sleep. Tomorrow's school so don't stay up too late with your friends because I don't want to see you dragging yourself down the hallways looking as dead as your friends are"

Aki grinned and opened the door.

"'Till tomorrow Ms. Nag." She bowed.

"I'm gonna steal one of your umbrellas," Moriko told her, pulling an umbrella out of Aki's hallway closet. "I'll give it back eventually."

"_Suuure_ you will," Aki said, rolling her eyes, "See ya 'morrow Mori,"

"Poe!" Moriko chimed happily, opening the umbrella and then running out the door into the typhoon-like weather.

"Poe!" Aki shouted after her, and then closed the door. She then leaned against it and sighed, thinking of what to do next. Suddenly, she had this creepy feeling that she was being watched. Opening her eyes, she saw two teal orbs staring back at her. Aki blinked, "Hi Shippo," she said to the little fox that was hovering in front of her. "I see you're having fun being a ghost."

Shippo nodded.

"Eeeyup!" he smiled.

Aki smiled and was about to talk when she was interrupted by another voice.

"What are you doing?"

Her eyes grew wide as she looked behind Shippo to see her father.

"Dad…!" Aki sputtered, clearly at loss of words.

"Are you talking to yourself Aki?" he asked her, not seeming to notice that a young fox demon dressed in medieval clothes was hovering between them.

Aki paused.

"Uh…yeah!" she lied. "You know those voices in my head, they never shut up," Aki tried to joke, hoping he'd buy it.

It was bought.

Not smiling at the forced joke, Aki's father looked at her seriously.

"If you start that again we'll have to send you to a psychologist," he flatly told her, and then walked away.

Aki gulped and motioned for Shippo to follow her. The two made their way upstairs and into her room before Aki closed the door.

"What did he mean by 'again'?" Inuyasha asked loudly, causing Aki to jump and whip around.

"Nothing, I don't know why he said that," she lied.

The half-demon raised an eyebrow at her, but decided to let it go and went back to what he was doing before she came in, trying to hover in midair like Shippo.

Aki looked around her room. Apparently Inuyasha was left in the dust, because Kagome, Miroku, and Kilala were already hovering, and now watching Inuyasha with interest as he failed repeatedly. Just then, Aki's stomach growled loudly, giving her a reminder that she still had to eat dinner.

"Uh…this may sound stupid…" she started, "but would you guys like anything to eat?"

Inuyasha snorted.

"You idiot, do you really think that we could eat anything if we wanted to?" he said, rolling his eyes.

Miroku sighed,

"Inuyasha, would you quit being difficult? It's the thought that counts," he said.

Aki smiled at the monk defending her.

"Thanks for asking Aki, but I think we're okay," Kagome reassured her, smiling.

Aki grinned at them and then went downstairs to snatch a quick meal.

A couple hours later (which made it around ten) Aki and her friends were everything but asleep.

Kagome sighed.

"Hey, Aki," she started, "I don't feel sleepy at all."

"Kudos to y-y-you," Aki yawned.

"Can ghosts fall asleep?" Miroku asked, also looking nowhere near tired.

"I dunno," Aki admitted. "Why don't you guys just…uh…practice your new powers or something to keep you occupied because I really need to get to sleep." With that, Aki jumped into her bed, pulled the covers up and tried to go off into Dreamland.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aki stumbled blindly down the hallway, banging into lockers and open doors that didn't get out of her way. Oh, and lots of students too.

"Arianna Seithr, watch where you're going!" her English teacher exclaimed in Aki's chosen English name after she had run into her.

"Sorry Mrs. Kinomi" Aki mumbled in English, apologizing to her homeroom teacher. Then, stumbling around her, Aki saw Moriko on the other side, smirking at her.

"Bad night with your friends?" she asked.

"Well, I made the mistake of telling them they could practice being ghosts…so yeah, it could've been better," Aki answered, yawning.

"Well, better look sharp Ms. Dull, because the warning bell rang four minutes ago."

This got Aki moving, for she immediately jumped up as though electrified. Within 30 seconds, she had dashed to her locker, wrenched open its door, grabbed her English books, and scampered into her homeroom as the bell rang. Sighing, she sat herself down in a seat near the front. Nothing eventful happened, and school seemed to drag on and on; when she reached fourth period algebra, Aki was ready to go home. Unfortunately, she still had five periods to live through before the release bell would finally ring. Aki and her other classmates filed into the white classroom, adjusting their binders so they would make comfortable pillows for the boring lesson ahead. As Nokiri-sensei started on a monotonous drawl about using the distributive property to solve overly-difficult story problems, Aki deeply regretted being smart enough to get into the advanced class. Just when she was about to fall asleep, she felt something heavy land on her shoulder.

"Hi, Aki!" a cheerful voice greeted.

She started and let out a yelp.

"Something wrong?" Nokiri asked, annoyed that he had been interrupted.

Aki glanced nervously behind her over Shippo where she saw Miroku, Inuyasha, Kilala, and a very exasperated-looking Kagome. Thinking fast, she shoved her finger down her throat, instantly making herself blow chunks on the floor.

"Hurry! Go to the bathroom!" the teacher yelled.

Aki was happy to oblige. Turning around to the seemingly invisible group of ghosts, she jerked her head slightly to indicate them to follow her. Once out of the classroom pretending to be sick, Aki glanced over her shoulder to make sure they were coming, then dashed into a janitor's closet after making sure no one else was looking. Turning on the light and locking the door after they had rushed in after her, she turned to face them.

"What…what…_what_…do you think you're doing?" she asked them.

Inuyasha and Miroku both looked ready to speak, but Kagome interrupted them.

"I tried to keep them at your house, but they're so stubborn and came here searching for you!"

Aki sighed, but then cracked a smile as she distinctly heard Kagome mutter "_Boys,_" under her breath.

"…Did anyone else see you?" Aki asked them, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh…besides Moriko? Kind of…" Kagome said, shifting her wait from foot to foot nervously.

Aki raised the other eyebrow.

"Who?"

"We don't know, but she had long brown hair and was dressed in all black," Shippo explained.

Aki stared.

"Amaya? _Amaya_ saw you?" she asked.

"Yes, she seemed a little unnerved…" Miroku told Aki.

"I imagine."

"Well it wasn't like she had a heart attack or anything like that," Inuyasha pointed out. "If anything, she was impressed that we could talk."

Aki laughed.

"That's Amy for ya."

"What's Amy for ya?" Moriko asked outside the door.

"Moriko! You idiot you scared me to death! No offense…" she added, looking pointedly at Kagome. "Why don't you come in? Join the party."

"I would, but the door's locked. And incase you haven't noticed, I'm not Keeper of the Keys."

"Right," Aki responded grinning, "you're Keeper of the Cheese." Her grin quickly vanished however when the door wouldn't open when she turned the handle. "Oh shiz…"

"Allow me!" Kagome exclaimed, then disappeared into the doorknob. Suddenly, the door clicked open by itself, and Kagome appeared next to Moriko. "Glad to be of service."

Aki sighed and thanked Kagome. As most of you know, it would not be fun to live the rest of your life in a closet away from the world. (Yup, I just insulted you)

"What are you doing out here in the hall anyways Moriko?"

Moriko grinned.

"I had a feeling…" she told Aki.

"Wow, kudos to you. Okay, guys?" she said, turning to them. "You do whatever you want, but try and stay away from people. I don't want anyone to call an exorcist."

"Please," Miroku said, "I'm a ghost monk, I can handle any exorcist."

"Good," Aki started, "because if you don't get your hand away from me right now, you're gonna need those skills."

* * *

AiShi: This chapter has some confusing things in it. For all of you educated peeps who know that people in Japan don't switch classes normaly, I'm saying the people in my ff do, and about Nokiri-sensei...I'm pretty sureI used'sensei'rightbut I'm too lazy to look it up right now. If it's wrong, tell me and I'll change it. 

THE DRUNKEN RAT STRIKES AGAIN


	5. New 'Friends' and a Walk Home

AiShi: Happy belated Halloween, another chapter, up and ready for your enjoyment! I got suckered into writing three chapters for November, so expect two more this month. Of course, this gets me off the hookon one of them for December, but I might be nice enough to update two times that month too. Cause I'm just nice. Enjoy peeps!

AiShi84 really doesn't want to be sued, so read the previous disclaimers please.

* * *

A teenage boy with long, red hair and wearing a magenta school uniform walked up a sidewalk of Nagoya, Japan. The streets and pathways were unusually unpopulated today, and birds chirped flying against a clear blue sky that seemed to be mocked by the windows of the buildings mirroring it. Coming to a stop in front of a house with high brick walls and a cast iron gate, his emerald eyes searched around him for anyone who might be watching. Seeing no one, he easily leaped up and over the walls without a second thought. Landing on the other side in a small garden, he stood up and brushed himself off, looking around. The inside of the property was much different then the outside, with green plants sprouting out of the ground and a collection of maple trees towering over the medium-sized traditional Japanese-style house in the middle. Noticing no lights were on in the house, he came to the conclusion that it was uninhabited at the moment.

"You come here often fox, what are you up to?"

The teenager stiffened and quickly jerked his head up to see another boy who looked about his age, who was wearing black and had spiky black hair with a starburst of white near his bangs up in a lower branch of the nearest maple. The teenager up in the tree looked down on the other boy with a look of mild amusement.

"I caught you off guard Kurama?" he asked, smirking.

The teenager on the ground relaxed and sighed.

"I'm afraid you did Hiei," he answered, looking up at his demon friend.

"You didn't answer my question," Hiei pointed out, jumping to a lower branch of the tree. "Why do you always come here?"

"I recall telling you before," Kurama answered, now gazing around the yard.

"Is it about the girl?"

"Yes."

Also looking around the yard, Hiei paused a moment before continuing.

"I thought you might've given up on her by now, if she hasn't shown any traces of recovering her memory."

The kitsune smiled.

"You never abandoned Yukina did you?"

"…I'm not suggesting you should abandon her," the fire demon said, now watching Kurama.

"I know," he answered. "I also know-"

But what Kurama also knew remained a mystery, as they both immediately fell silent when they heard voices drawing near the house gates.

"So you basically just skipped the rest of school and spent it in a closet?"

"Yup."

"Sweet."

"I know."

"Of course now you've got these dead people to deal with."

"Hey, I resemble that comment."

"I know, that's why I said it."

"I can't believe you actually threw up."

"I panicked okay? As you can imagine, I don't usually invite ghosts to math class."

"I wish _I_ had dead friends. You've got all the luck, Aki."

"Yeah Amy, I'd like to know how well you would deal with an all-nighter."

"Better then you did, that's for sure."

"Yeah, it looked like you were making out with that one door you ran into."

"Would you guys quit picking on me? I might send my spooky friends to haunt you."

"My hours are one through five on Mondays through Wednesdays."

"Haha. See ya tomorrow Aki, Amy, Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo, etcetera."

"What, so I'm just an 'etcetera' now?"

"No, you're a freaking pervert. Now shut up."

Kurama jumped into the leaves of the tree with Hiei as the gates to the house creaked open, letting Moriko in. They watched as she waved to her friends on the other side of the gates, and then walked up her driveway. Reaching for the sliding door, she hesitated for a second and looked around. Shrugging off the feeling that she was being watched, she slid open the door and went inside.

Kurama found it pointless to ask his friend 'Did you hear that?', for they shared curious glances after Moriko had slipped into her home.

"Ghosts?" Kurama voiced the question.

"The baka onna must have something to do with this," Hiei pointed out.

"Yes," agreed Kurama, "we need to see Botan."

Without a word of parting to each other, the two demons both disappeared to interrogate the ever-popular Spirit Guide.

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Aki and Amaya walked down the sidewalk followed by that lovable group of ghosts, Inuyasha, Miroku, Shippo, Kagome, and Kilala. Happy to find out that Amy could also see her ghostly acquaintances, Aki was now a little nervous that a passer-by might also see them, considering how many people she knew could spot them.

"-but what's great," Amy continued from their previous conversation, "is that they're solid enough to touch."

Aki was quiet. She was very confused about that factor. Last night, Moriko hadn't even been able to shake hands with Kagome. But, in math class, Shippo had easily leaped onto Aki's shoulder. When she had mentioned this to her group earlier, they had just shrugged. And earlier on their walk home they Amaya had punched Miroku after he had asked her to bear his child. He still had the mark on his forehead, and as a result walked on the other side of Aki that Amy was not, as to stay out of arm's length of her so she wouldn't have another chance to repeat the gesture.

Aki sweatdropped as she watched him.

"What I don't get is why you would even bother asking people to have sex if you're a ghost?" she asked him.

"Old habits die hard," Miroku answered, sighing.

"Too bad you're already dead," Amy said, "or else I would've happily killed you."

At this comment Miroku edged closer to Aki, as if she was going to protect him from her seemingly-dangerous friend. Unfortunately for him, he lost his human shield when his hand found her bottom.

Aki raised an eyebrow at him.

"Get your hand off my ass before yours is grass," she told him calmly, although clearly indicating that she would've liked to rip his head off and mail it to America.

"Idiot," Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes at the monk's antics. Kagome and Shippo were close to follow Inuyasha's eye-rolling.

Under Aki's icy glare, Miroku retreated to the back of the group, now trying to conceal himself behind Kagome and Shippo.

"Can I cut his head off now?" Amy asked, as though voicing Aki's thoughts.

Aki laughed.

"He'd probably end up like Nearly-Headless Nick," she giggled, her friends and her all being major Harry Potter freaks.

They both laughed as they imagined Miroku with an overly-large ruff around his neck, trying to keep his head from wobbling back and forth.

"You know," Amaya started, "we should try and get one of them to read Harry Potter."

Aki looked behind them at the group.

"Nah, it'd be too easy. And besides, they'd all be too willing with the exception of Inuyasha, but he wouldn't understand the plot anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he growled.

"It means I'm looking for a challenge, and for someone who'd actually appreciate the book." she answered, earning herself an angry glare from the half-demon. "And someone who could actually turn the pages," she whispered, giggling to Amy.

Amaya laughed.

"Looks like this is your stop Aki and company," she pointed out, gesturing to Aki's house they were all now in front of.

"Excellent Sherlock, do you think you can solve this problem I have? You see, I have these dead friends…" Aki joked.

Amaya and Kagome laughed at her comment while Inuyasha, Shippo, and Miroku just blinked, they of course having no idea who or what Sherlock Holmes was.

"Hey, have you seen Suki?" Amy asked Aki just as she was going through the gates to her house.

"Uhhhh…" Aki racked her memory, looking for the last time she and her friend had had a conversation. "Last time I saw her was about four days ago, it sucks that she's still in Junior High, otherwise we'd see her every day."

"Yeah…" Amy agreed. "Well, see yaw Spatula!" she waved, then turned and walked down the sidewalk towards her house.

"I am not a kitchen utensil!" Aki yelled after her, then, grinning, she went up to her house and slid open the door.

"What was that all about?" Kagome asked her.

"Nickname," Aki answered, dumping her bookbag off in the hall and then heading towards the kitchen.

Kagome followed her to the kitchen.

"Spatula's your nickname?"

"Eeyup!" she answered cheerfully, grabbing a bagel from the refrigerator, and then grabbing the kitchen phone to call Moriko.

As Aki waited for Moriko to pick up, she and Kagome kept talking.

"Really Aki, thanks for letting us stay here," Kagome told her, smiling.

"Hey, it's not a problem at all, feel free to stay as long as you want," Aki responded. "But I have one question."

"What's that?"

"Why are you wearing a school uniform?"

Kagome thought for a second.

"Uh, I don't really know, a habit? Old habits die hard."

Aki laughed.

"You realize you just sounded like Miroku right?"

Kagome grimaced at her, then shut her eyes tight. All of a sudden, a wave of light washed over her body and she was now clad in a blue t-shirt and khaki capris.

Aki's eyes widened.

"Damn, I wish I could do that!"

"Ever consider that the poor person on the other end of the line might like to know what's going on?" Moriko's voice asked, coming from the phone.

Aki jumped, she had completely forgotten about the phone.

"Holy-! God Mori, don't surprise me like that!" Aki gasped.

"Hey, get your lazy ass outta the house and let's go somewhere."

"Like a nice walk?"

"Define 'nice'"

Aki rolled her eyes.

"I'll be at your house in five."

"You'd better be."

"Poe."

"Poe."

Aki hung up the phone.

"Walk?" she asked Kagome.

"Sure," she answered.

Aki abandoned her half-eaten bagel by the phone and she and Kagome strolled into the hallway. Seeing Inuyasha and Shippo studying the doorbell, they both sighed and rolled their eyes.

"Where's Miroku?" Aki asked, looking around.

Kagome smirked, a very unusual look for her.

"Why? Miss him?"

Aki rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, I wanted to tell him I've decided to bear his child after all."

Obviously the word 'sarcasm' was not in Inuyasha's vocabulary, as he immediately whipped around and stared at Aki.

"Geez, sit boy! I was joking! …What's up with you?" she asked him, as he twitched at the word 'sit boy'.

"Oh," Kagome explained cheerfully, "See, he crashes to the ground whenever I tell him to _sit_."

Inuyasha braced himself, but nothing happened.

Kagome blinked.

"Sit!"

Inuyasha once again looked like he was dreading what was about to happen, which turned out to be nothing.

"SIT! SITSITSITSITSIT!" Kagome yelled, but nothing happened.

Inuyasha grinned.

"Ha wench!" he yelled, "The damned thing doesn't work anymore!" The half-demon looked very pleased with himself.

Kagome sighed.

"It must be the whole ghost thing…" she said, a little disappointed.

"Eh, don't worry about it. C'mon, let's go see Moriko, Kagome, it's already past five minutes," she added, a little sheepishly. "You guys stay here, don't possess anything, and stay away from my parents when they come home," Aki told the guys. "And tell Miroku when you find him, wherever the hell he is."

"Let's go Aki!" Kagome reminded her new friend, smiling.

"Better believe it!" Aki laughed, following her. "You can come too Kilala," she told the kitty demon.

Kilala 'mrowed' cheerfully, and bounded after the two girls heading out the door.

* * *

AiShi: Damn, writer's block has struck. It'll be gone in a few days, so expect another update! And I'm not quite sure about the whole school system thing in Japan, but for the fanfiction's sake, let's just say Aki's High School is right next to the Junior High. Sound good? Okay. 

I DIDN'T KNOW BOWLS COULD DO THAT!


	6. Hey Look! Demons! Oh Crap!

AiShi: #sigh# Jesus Christ, my stupid laptop decided to just stop working one random day so I missed two updates and when my mom finally got around to taking it into the fixer-guy, he said nothing was wrong and now it's working like a charm. Sorry peeps.

Robin: HELLO ALL! AiShi has been really… what's the word for it?

Kuronue: ….. Why are you asking me?

Robin: Who said I was asking you……..hmmm somnolent perhaps?

Kuronue: What ever the frisk that means. I'M A COWBOY! ON A STEEL HORSE I RIDE I'M WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE!

Robin: no comment.

AiShi: Here's my comment, gimme my damn laptop back.

AiShi84 no ownies InuYasha, YuYu-Hakusho, or Pokemon!

* * *

Aki, Kagome, and Kilala had fun racing to Moriko's house. Aki laughing as the breeze rustled her powder blue skirt, (which she had no time to change out of) she dashed down the sidewalk just ahead of the other two. Her triumphant grin was to be short-lived however, as Kagome soon sped up and passed her easily.

"Ha!" the schoolgirl yelled over her shoulder. However, the sidewalk ended, going in two different directions, forcing Kagome to stop and try to remember which way Moriko's home was. Aki caught up with her and bent over, catching her breath and laughing. Gasping, she pointed to the right, indicating the correct way to go. Kilala sat down and started to lick her paw absentmindedly.

"She…she wasn't even trying was she?" Aki asked Kagome, referring to the cream-colored cat demon between them.

"Nope," Kagome confirmed. Then, helping Aki stand up, she put her hands in her pants' pockets and looked around. "Nagoya's really nice," she commented, watching the trees sway in the light gusts of air.

"Thanks," Aki smiled at the compliment, now recovered fully.

They started walking again and soon they were already at Moriko's gates.

Aki rolled her bright green eyes.

"Looks like we're breaking in, considering the idiot left the gates closed," she said, grabbing hold of a bar. Before she could hoist herself over the gates though, Kilala slipped through the iron poles as easily as a bar of soap would. The two girls watched as the two-tailed bounded up the driveway and disappeared through the solid door. Waiting a few seconds, they both heard a squeal and the door opened to reveal a very happy Moriko holding a very helpful Kilala. Walking down the driveway Moriko opened the gates with one hand.

"They were open the whole time, stupid," she commented, then closed them behind her. Now dressed in blue jeans and a red t-shirt, Moriko looked much more like herself than she did with her uniform on.

"Well, excuse me for not being so observant!" Aki huffed in mock-anger, giving away the joke with a grin.

Moriko laughed,

"You're never observant," she pointed out.

Kilala then jumped out of her arms and bounded down the sidewalk ahead of them, mewing cheerfully. Kagome laughed and ran after her, then yelled behind to the two,

"Hey! C'mon slowpokes!"

Moriko sprinted after her, easily over-taking her. Aki, however, laughed.

"You can't call me a slowpoke! Do I look pink to you?" she asked, "Don't insult people with Pokemon names!"

Kagome stopped and looked back at her; a clear look of 'wtf?' crossed her face.

Moriko stopped too and snickered.

"She's a pokeholic," she explained to a confused Kagome, who just nodded, not exactly understanding.

"I'll explain later," she said, dismissing it with a wave of her hand. "C'mon lazy ass!" she yelled to Aki, who ran to catch up with them. They jogged for a couple of minutes, just having fun running, and trying to catch up with Kilala while they were at it. Suddenly, Aki stopped and looked behind her.

Moriko halted also and followed Aki's line of sight to see her watching a leaf swirl to the ground. She sweatdropped.

"You get distracted waaaaaay too easily," she pointed out.

"No," Aki told her, still staring, "that leaf…it's not falling right."

Kagome and Kilala, who had stopped with Moriko, looked at her.

"Aki, the leaf is falling, leaves tend to do that in fall," Kagome explained.

"But no, it's like someone's standing near it, it's really weir-"

All of a sudden, a hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbing the leaf and crushing it. Everyone jumped back in surprise as the hand's owner became entirely visible, revealing a spiked blood-red tail, two muscled legs, another arm like the first, and a scaled lizard's head, with three menacing bright-yellow eyes glaring at them from out of the sockets. Without hesitating, it immediately sprung forward with its razor-sharp teeth bared at Aki, who happened to be its closest target. Aki let out a yell as she was hurled back five feet into a brick wall.

"Aki!" Moriko and Kagome yelled, racing to her. Kilala pounced in front of the group of girls as the monster demon turned towards them, readying itself for another attack. With a snarl, flames engulfed the two-tailed as she transformed into her other form. The two-tailed demon now looked like a two-tailed saber tooth cat, her red eyes glaring at the threatening demon in front of her.

"Kitty's got game!" Aki yelped, hoisting herself off the cement. This was a mistake, as she flinched and grasped her side, clenching her teeth. "Shit," she mumbled.

The demon bellowed at Kilala, annoyed with the interference. It charged, swinging its claws and gnashing its fangs. She easily dodged, but apparently the monster was not aiming for her, but for the girls she was defending. Just as the demon was about to slice the three in half, a blur of red whipped in front of them, acting as a shield. Aki opened her eyes to see the lizard being held off by none other than Inuyasha.

"Run you idiots!" he shouted, unsheathing his sword.

Moriko and Kagome nodded, then helping Aki walk, they moved away from the two. But before they could get too far, they were confronted by a blue snake-like demon, only with a skull head and spiraling horns. It snarled at them and attacked, ready to kill. They all flinched, waiting for the fangs that would tear them apart when Miroku came to the rescue, slicing the demon in half with his staff.

"Are you all unharmed?" he asked, making sure the demon was dead.

Moriko shook her head.

"No, Aki's hurt."

Inuyasha came over to them, having killed the first demon.

Miroku asked Aki to remove her hand so he could see. When she did, he grimaced.

"Most likely an internal wound, we'll have to see what healing supplies you have at your home," he told her, straightening up.

All of a sudden, they heard a chorus of horrible screeches behind them. Whipping around, they saw a hoard of demons flying at them. Miroku loosened the beads around his right hand.

"Stand back!" he yelled at them.

Aki opened her mouth to ask why, but Kagome pulled her and Moriko back out of the way.

Miroku tugged away the beads and shouted,

"Wind Tunnel!" His hand suddenly became a vortex that sucked up the demon swarm, all of them disappearing one after the other. Aki watched in wonder as the cloud of demons became smaller and smaller until not one of them was left. She stared at the monk as he sealed the vacuum with his rosary.

"Now that's power…" she said breathlessly.

Miroku sighed with relief.

"I didn't know if I still kept it or not once I had died," he told them.

Suddenly, a cheerful voice rang out behind them.

"Well of course you kept it silly! We wouldn't let you go into the afterlife with empty hands!"

Everyone slowly turned around to see a smiling Botan riding her oar. And, as the three who saw her before noted, she looked no different than she did five hundred years ago.

"Sorry for the pun," she apologized, and then landed on the ground next to Moriko.

Inuyasha growled at her.

"Where were you wench? It's about time you showed up!"

Botan sighed.

"I'm sorry, things are a bit out-of-hand in the Spirit World," the guide explained.

Aki and Moriko blinked. They heard a bit about her from the group, but they never expected her to be so…so…_cheery_. It kind of creeped them out.

Kagome looked at Botan.

"You said that we would have a kind of task to do so we could come back alive, would you please tell us what it is?" she requested with restricted eagerness.

Botan smiled.

"You did a fine job of protecting Aki, how about you act as her bodyguards?"

Inuyasha snorted.

"I've got better things to do than baby-sit a little girl."

Botan sighed.

"Well, if you don't want to come back to life…"

"We'd be happy to watch over her," Miroku intervened, whapping Inuyasha between his dog ears.

"But why me?" Aki asked, "Why am I numero uno on the special list?"

Botan thought for a moment, as if gathering what to say.

"Well, since you already know them and their story, it's easier leaving them with you than trying to explain it to another person."

Moriko shrugged.

"I guess that's true."

Without warning, two people appeared out of nowhere. Looking around the circle, Kurama and Hiei observed the scene around them.

"We wanted to ask you what was happening, Botan," Kurama said to Botan, glancing at Moriko but quickly averting his gaze before he continued, "so it looks like we came at just the right time."

Moriko looked at the two of them.

"I hate to admit it Aki, but looks like we're the only humans here besides Miroku and Kagome, but they're ghosts," she sighed.

Suddenly, Shippo and Amaya ran around the corner, Shippo being in the lead.

"Shippo!" Aki exclaimed, holding out her arms as the chibi kitsune jumped into them.

"Aki!" he greeted. "Miroku and Inuyasha thought something was going on so they told me to go get Amaya."

Amaya sighed and leaned back against the brick wall.

"Looks like I missed the action eh?"

"Oh no, there's bound to be more of it. Botan here was just about to explain to us what the fusk is going on, wasn't she?" Moriko said, turning to Botan with a raised eyebrow.

Botan sweatdropped.

"I suppose it's only natural that you'd be curious…"

Aki looked around the circle.

"Let's see, we've got five ghosts, a grim reaper, and two random demons just appeared, yeah, I'm a little curious."

"Yes, we'd like to know too baka onna," Hiei told her, annoyance present in his voice.

Aki thought it was a little rude of him to call Botan stupid, but she kept her mouth shut.

Botan sighed.

"Better start from the beginning, well, it all started about five hundred years ago…"

* * *

AiShi: And there I leave you, other chapters are coming out soon! Sorry again! 


	7. The Case of the Missing Pen

AiShi: Once again, sorry folks. The next update'll be on Dec. 17, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

AiShi84 only owns Aki, Moriko, Amaya, Suki, and the whooooooolllle plot of this story.

* * *

Everyone watched Botan as she went over how Inuyasha and the others died, and how they came into the future.

"And then," she continued, pointing to Inuyasha, "your brother, Sesshomaru, killed Naraku."

The ghost group looked amazed.

"What?" Kagome asked. "How?"

"Kagura turned on Naraku and managed to steal the jewel away. She lost her life, but Sesshomaru acquired it and used it to defeat Naraku," Botan explained.

The group looked flabbergasted while Hiei and Kurama looked mildly interested, and Aki, Amaya, and Moriko just looked confused.

"Sessho-waaah?" Aki asked.

"Inuyasha's older brother," Kagome explained.

"What jewel?" Amaya questioned.

"The Jewel of Four Souls baka," Inuyasha and Hiei both reprimanded her at the same time.

The Spirit Guide nodded.

"And it is now in Lord Koenma's possession."

Kagome blinked.

"But if the priestess Midoriko gave her life to create the jewel and stop the demon, then isn't her spirit in the Spirit World? How would the jewel exist in the same plane as she does?" she asked, looking at Botan.

Botan was silent for a moment.

"Midoriko's spirit is eternally trapped inside the jewel, destined to fight the demon also residing within it forever. She was a great priestess who sacrificed her spirit for the welfare of others."

"So she doesn't even have the option of an afterlife?" Aki asked, appalled.

Botan shook her head.

"Afraid not."

"So Naraku died, now where is he?" Kurama inquired.

"He was sent to Hell," she answered.

"Where he belonged," Inuyasha snorted.

Botan sighed.

"Yes, but now that he's there, Hell has grown stronger and the spirits are starting to rebel."

"Is that what all those demons were?" Moriko interrogated.

"Yes."

'_But why did they come after us?_' Aki questioned herself.

The Spirit Guide smiled.

"Nothing we can't handle though," she reassured cheerfully.

Aki wasn't entirely convinced, but she shrugged.

"You're the lady with the oar!" she laughed, then saluted her. She regretted this though, for she instantly gritted her teeth and clutched her side. Aki would have fallen over if Miroku didn't support her just in time.

Moriko gave her a pitying look while Amaya just looked confused.

"That reminds me," Kagome started after also supporting Aki. "Why are we solid only some of the time?"

"That's our fault," the Spirit Guide explained. "It depends on how much energy Lord Koenma decides to put out, the more energy, the more you'll be able to touch physical matter. You'll still be invisible to humans mind you."

"But _we're_ humans," Aki pointed out, supporting herself now.

"Yes, but you're psychics," Botan told her quickly, then glanced at her wrist. "Whoopsie! Got to go, lots of dead people to guide, see ya!"

The group watched as she hopped on her oar and disappeared into thin air.

"She didn't have a watch on did she?" Amaya asked.

"Nope," Moriko answered.

Aki grimaced as another wave of pain shot through her, causing her to grip her side and lose her balance again, falling against Miroku and Kagome. They caught her and hoisted her back up to standing position.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

Kurama observed her for a minute before asking,

"May I see your wound?"

Aki blinked before answering,

"Uh, sure." She inched up her shirt to reveal a purple bruise that spread from her left side to the middle of her back.

The fox looked at it quickly, then reached into his pocket and drew out a handful of plants.

"Take these, and when you get home, boil them in water. They should form a paste that you can apply to it."

Aki pocketed the herbs and smiled at him.

"You're a lifesaver."

"More often than not," he said, shrugging.

Suddenly, a very irritated, "Hn." came from behind Kurama. Looking behind him, they saw Moriko poking Hiei's hair and speaking rapidly.

"Heyyourhair'ssocoolhowdoyougetitlikethatareyouademonheyyou'rekindashortwhat'syourname?" she finished, now tugging on the strip of cloth he had around his head.

Everyone sweatdropped and stared in amazement that she hadn't yet been disemboweled.

The fire demon gritted his teeth and in a forced-calm voice he answered her,

"My hair is normal, I am a demon, and my name is none of your pathetic business."

Kurama sighed.

"He is Hiei and I'm Kurama, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ditto," Amaya said, grinning. "Aki, Moriko, Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Shippo, Kilala," she told him, pointing to each one in turn. "And I'm Amaya."

Kilala, who had been sitting patiently on the sidewalk in her demon form this whole time, changed back into a cat in a flash of fire and jumped onto Hiei's head.

"Mrerw!" she meowed happily.

"HI HIEI!" Moriko greeted, throwing up her arms in the air.

Aki and Amaya shared glances. She usually acted like this, but not around strangers.

Kagome sweatdropped and walked up to Hiei.

"Hi, nice to meet you," she said, holding out her hand.

The demon looked at it.

"Onna, get these things away from me."

The two-tailed meowed indignantly and jumped onto Moriko's shoulder instead.

Moriko pouted.

"Hey! Be nice to Kilala!"

Hiei rolled his eyes and stepped beside Kurama.

"We're going," he told the fox.

Kurama sighed and nodded to the group.

"We'll see you again," he told them, and then the two disappeared.

Kagome blinked.

"Where'd they go?"

"They didn't disappear, they're just running really fast, see?" Aki told them, pointing to a tree branch that was moving slightly.

Moriko, Amaya, Inuyasha, and Shippo looked where she pointed and nodded, but Kagome and Miroku just looked confused.

"What exactly do you see?" Miroku asked, looking right where she was pointing.

"The leaves are shaking, don't you see it? They must've jumped into this tree."

"Not really…" Kagome answered.

Aki looked at them questioningly.

"But it's moving and…are you sure?"

They both nodded.

"They're just humans," Inuyasha told her, folding his arms.

"But so are we!" Aki almost shouted in exasperation.

"Suki!" Moriko shouted, waving to someone behind Aki.

Aki whipped around and, ignoring the searing pain in her side, waved to her Junior High friend, Suki.

"Suki!"

Amaya waved too and soon the light-brunette thirteen year-old was stopped right before them.

"Hey guys!" she said cheerfully, not seeming to notice the group of Feudal Japan ghosts standing right next to her.

Shooting a warning glance at them, Aki grinned.

"Haven't seen you around for awhile, did you die?"

"Oh yeah," she laughed, rolling her eyes, "I just keeled over right then and there once I started coughing."

Aki was surprised that Suki could not see the group right next to her, but didn't say anything. Amaya and Moriko followed her example.

"Well, I've got homework," Moriko told them, turning around. Over her shoulder she called, "See ya tomorrow guys!" and then skipped around the corner.

Amaya backed up a step and told them "I gotta go clean my room too, or else I'll get killed by my mom, bye!" she waved, then darted around the corner also.

Aki and Suki both blinked.

"They were in a hurry," Suki observed, turning to Aki. "My house? You can stay for dinner."

"Sure!" Aki accepted, smiling and ignoring the pain in her side. "You go on ahead, I gotta catch Moriko because she stole my…uh…pen!"

Suki gave her a weird look but shrugged.

"Okay, don't take too long though!"

"I won't!" she chirped cheerfully. Then, she turned around and ran behind the wall on the corner, giving her group a 'follow me' look beforehand.

Soon, they all came around the wall and stood around Aki.

"Well?" Inuyasha asked.

"I'm going over to Suki's. Since she can't see you guys, just go home and stay out of my parents' way and don't do anything dumb," she told them, looking mainly at Inuyasha. "I mean it. Kagome, you're in charge."

Miroku raised an eyebrow.

"What? I'm not responsible enough to be put in a position of power?"

"Fine!" Aki said, "Miroku's boss! I'll be back sometime this evening. Do something to get yourself caught and heads will roll, got that?"

When they all nodded, she sighed.

"Are you guys solid?" she asked.

Inuyasha, to answer her question, poked her.

"Okay, take these and boil them for me," she said, drawing the herbs out of her pocket and handing them to Kagome. "Make sure you do it before my parents get home, I don't think it would bode well if they thought I left the stove on.

"Okay," Kagome said.

"Good, see you then!" Aki waved, running back to Suki.

"Where's the pen?" she asked, seeing Aki's empty hands.

"Pen?"

"You said you were going to get your pen back from Moriko."

"Oh, um, it was out of ink so I let her keep it."

"I see."

"No you don't."

* * *

AiShi: Yeah, holidays are making it hectic around here sooooo...bye peeps!

EH, CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING RANDOM TO SAY HERE. EXCEPT IN GYM TODAY WHEN WE WERE PLAYING VOLLEYBALL, THIS ONE GUY YELLED OUT 'I EAT MEXICAN CHEESE' INSTEAD OF THE SCORE, SO YEAH...


	8. Say Please!

AiShi: Happy almost-holidays everybody! Not much to say, except our super-intendant must've really had his hat on tight, because we didn't even get so much as a delay when a blizzard was going on. Naturally, everyone was more than pissed, to say the least. So, another chapter for you, and next time I see you, it'll be two days after Yulemas! (or Christmas, for all you weirdos) So Happy Merry Yulemas!

AiShi84 DOESN'T OWN THE ANIMES! NO SUE! NO COURT! THE LAWYERS MAKE MY HEAD SPIN!

* * *

Naturally, since Miroku was left in charge, her room was a complete mess when Aki returned home at seven.

Writing supplies were strewn across the floor, her CDs were in the most random places she could think of, her computer had been turned on and Inuyasha and Shippo were staring at her blank desktop in awe, Miroku was sitting on the edge of her bed trying to figure out her rubix cube, and Kagome and Kilala were trying, with no avail, to clean up the mess everyone had made.

Aki sighed and smeared some of the paste Kagome had boiled onto her wound that had been bugging her. The effect was instantaneous; the blotchy red color of her skin quickly disappeared and Aki couldn't even tell that was where she had gotten hurt. Smiling, she helped the two clean up. After her last CD had been located and put away, Aki walked up to Miroku, took the rubix cube, and whapped him on the head with it.

"Baka, I'm never leaving you in charge again."

"Aki, what's this?" Shippo asked her, now touching the computer screen.

Aki sat down in her computer chair and swiveled around so she was facing the screen.

"Be amazed by my vast amount of knowledge and power!" she cackled, clicking on the 'Internet Explorer' button.

The two stared in wonder as the 'Connect' box popped up and she clicked on it.

Aki laughed as the two jumped back when her email screen appeared.

"Who ya emailing?" Kagome asked, sitting on the desk.

"Jenny," she told her.

"Who is Jenny?" Miroku asked, now looking over Aki's shoulder.

"She lives in America," Aki explained.

"What's America?" Inuyasha asked.

Everyone stared at him; even Kilala raised her head off the carpet to look at him.

"What?" he asked defensively.

Aki glanced at Kagome.

"500 years right?"

"Yep."

"I'll tell him," Miroku volunteered. "About thirteen years ago, in our time, the continent discovered a new landmass covered with demons. Later, they found out that the man who led the expedition was a demon by the name of America. He was slain, and then the new country was named after him. Naturally, it was cleaned of demons and people started to inhabit it."

Kagome and Aki blinked.

"Columbus was a demon?"

"That screws our history class," Aki said, throwing _A History of America: 9th Grade Edition _that she got off her desk at her wall.

It made a #thunk# as it hit, and soon they heard Aki's mother yell up the stairs,

"Aki! Don't throw things!"

"Sorry mom!" she yelled back, grinning. Glancing back at the screen, she saw she had a new email.

"Jennsu is Jenny, I'm guessing?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah."

Opening the email, Aki read it and grinned.

Kagome looked at it over her shoulder.

"Hey, it's in English…"

"She knows a bit of Japanese, but I can read a lot of English," Aki explained.

"What's it say?" Shippo asked, leaping on top of her head.

"Dear Aki," she read, "not much new here, my mom's going to Spain on a business trip, I asked her if I could come but naturally, she said 'no'. How are things going over there? Moriko still crazy? Uh-oh, dinner time, respond to this when you get the chance okay? Bye!"

"What's Spain?" Inuyasha asked.

The looks on everyone's faces told him he wasn't going to find out.

"Dinner!" they all heard Aki's father yell.

"Alright!" she yelled back. "I'll be right back guys," Aki told them.

"Can we come?" Shippo asked her.

Aki hesitated.

"If you guys can get Inuyasha to say 'please', I'll let you come."

Kagome grinned.

"Inuyasha, say 'please'," she told him.

"Why should I? It's not like you can make me 'sit' anymore."

Kagome thought for a moment.

"True."

Inuyasha smirked, thinking he had her beat. Of course, while he was gloating Miroku snick up behind him and whacked him so hard Inuyasha lost his balance and fell on his face.

His head now buried in the carpet, they heard a muffled "Please…" come from the dog.

"Yay!" Shippo cheered.

Aki shrugged.

"Suit yourselves," she told them. Sliding down the stair rail, Aki heard Inuyasha mutter,

"I think your brain is broken…" before reaching the bottom. She jumped into the kitchen and sat at her place around the circular table.

"About time…" her father mumbled, spearing a green bean on his fork.

Aki sighed and grabbed her fork. Just as she was about to chomp a piece of steak, she got her wits scared out of her by the group falling through the ceiling.

"Aki, what's wrong?" her mother asked as Aki's fork clattered to her plate.

"Huh? Oh, nothing!" she told her parents hastily, picking up her fork again. Glancing toward the corner, she saw her friends brushing themselves off.

"Sorry," Kagome whispered.

Aki couldn't respond without her parents noticing, so she made a 'thumbs up' under the table.

Kagome nodded to show she understood and sat down next to Inuyasha on the floor.

Aki quickly ate her dinner and excused herself, but before she could get up, she was confronted by her mother.

"Aki, you're acting very strange…" she started.

"It's nothing," she told her, trying to choke further conversation.

"Stay," her father told her as she went to get up.

Aki fidgeted.

"Do you need to go to the counselor again?" her mother asked, folding her hands.

"No!" Aki snarled, blushing that her friends had to hear this.

"Aki, don't you raise your voice at me!" her mother commanded her sternly.

"If she doesn't want to go then don't make her," her father said.

"No! If she's going to need to see another shrink, we need her to tell us if she's okay!"

"She just did!" he argued.

"It was like this last time too! You dismissed it as nothing and she turned out to be this schizophrenic freak who was hearing voices in her head!"

"Don't talk like that!"

"I'll talk however I want!"

"Go to hell!"

"I will just to get away from you!"

Aki took this chance to slip away. Standing up, she ran from the fight, yanked open the door, and ran outside into her backyard. Her cheeks burning, she came to the edge of the crater that Inuyasha and the others had made when they had first appeared. Sighing, she sat down and buried her face in her arms.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Turning around, Aki saw Miroku kneeling down behind her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, moving beside her.

She nodded.

"I'm alright."

Inuyasha suddenly came up behind them.

"Good, cause I wasn't about to comfort you if you cried," he stated matter-of-factly, crossing his arms.

Aki smiled, but Kagome looked sad.

"It's awful your parents fight like that," she said.

"Hey, you get used to it," Aki told her, throwing a pebble into the crater. "What's funny though is that they haven't noticed this hole in the backyard."

No one said anything, but Aki could tell they were thinking about what her mother meant by 'schizophrenic freak'.

"What's 'schizophrenic' mean?" Shippo finally asked.

"Umm…" Kagome started, not sure how to inform him without hurting Aki.

"It means I'm a mental freak who hears voices in my head," Aki explained, laughing bitterly. She looked up as a cloud floated over the moon, shadowing them in darkness. Kagome looked up too.

"Hey, almost a full moon…" she pointed out.

"Yeah," Aki answered, her eyes gleaming as the cloud made way for the moon's rays. "It's almost full…"

"Mrew," Kilala meowed.

As the group silently gazed at the moon, they were unaware that miles away, two other people were watching the same moon, their eyes glowing with apprehension.

* * *

AiShi: About the Internet Explorer thing, I'm not quite sure what web browsers there are in Japan, but let's just say they have Internet Explorer too.Also, for those of you who don't know, a person who is schizophrenic means that they hear voices in their minds and are mentally ill. 

THAT'S A BANANA, NOT A PING PONG BALL STUPID


	9. Microwave!

AiShi: Well, A Happy Merry Yulemas to all and a Happy New Year afterwards. Everyone get lots of good presents? I know I have, I've been watching InuYasha Season 1 for the past day and a half. Yay me. Lots of InuYasha T-shirts, keychains, blablablablabla and even a Japanese Lesson DVD. And I'm getting an electric guitar today, but sshhhh! My grandma's not supposed to know that I know!

AiShi84 does not own the term 'Yulemas'...or do I? I can't remember anymore...

* * *

A couple hours had passed since her parents' fight. Aki sighed and ran her hand over the cool grass, its individual blades tickling her palm. Shippo was watching Kilala chase one of the year's last fireflies as it lit up the sky. Kagome was trying to explain what Spain was to Inuyasha, and Miroku was studying the crater.

"What're you doing?" Aki asked him.

He didn't answer, but instead pressed his hand to the ground, a look of concentration on his face.

Suddenly, the ground in the crater surged upward, flattening out when it reached Aki's feet as grass shot out of the dirt. He leaned back and observed his work.

"That," he told her, satisfied.

She gawked in amazement at the smooth ground before her.

"How'd you do that?"

Kagome, Inuyasha, and Shippo were now also staring at the flawless lawn too.

"I don't really know," he confessed, shrugging.

"Well thanks! You saved me from another yelling scene, how can I thank you?"

"Well, you could bear-"

"Ya know what?" she interrupted, "How about I let you fool around with my computer?"

The monk sighed.

"Sure, okay."

"Okay then, let's go in," she said, standing up. Grinning, she went over to her house and looked up at her bedroom window.

"Hey idiot!" The door's over there!" Inuyasha yelled, pointing at the backdoor.

"There's one right here too," she responded.

Laughing at the confused look on his face, she grabbed a fret of the wall trellis (the thing that criss-crosses and has ivy growing on it) and started to climb. In a grand total of five seconds, she was sitting on the windowsill, smiling down at the group.

"Well?" she mocked. "Gonna amaze me with your oh-so-powerful ghost powers?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Better believe it!" Inuyasha growled. Unfortunately, in his hurry to prove himself, he was a bit too eager to fly and as a result, shot himself like a bullet into the side of her home.

Kagome sighed and hovered up to the window with Shippo and Kilala following.

"Where's Miroku?" Aki asked, looking outside.

"I'm here," he replied, walking through Aki's open doorway.

"Didn't feel like flying?" Aki asked.

"I'm afraid I used all of my energy to fix your yard.

"Sorry," she apologized.

Suddenly, Inuyasha's voice floated through the open window,

"A little help here?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

School the next day was fairly normal. Aki hid out in the janitor's closet during her gym and lunch periods to keep an eye on everyone, especially Miroku. Despite her efforts though, by the end of the day there was a rumor floating around school that the girls' locker room was haunted.

"Pervert," Aki muttered, whacking the monk on his head on their walk home from school.

Moriko and Amaya both followed suit.

"Hey guys!" Suki yelled, waving her bag in the air as she ran to catch up with them.

"Hey!" Aki greeted as she came level with the group. Glancing at the ghosts, she jerked her head slightly, indicating they should leave.

Miroku nodded to show he understood and ushered the group away through a brick wall.

"So, anything going on?" Moriko asked Suki.

"Homework, and lots of it," she replied, opening the flap of her bag to reveal tons of schoolbooks stuffed inside it.

"Poor thing!" Aki gushed, ruffling Suki's hair.

"AH! Geroff!" Suki shouted, struggling to push her off while Moriko laughed.

Aki finally let go of her, grinning. Amaya however, stayed silent, gazing off into space…literally.

"You know," Moriko stated, "staring at the sun will kill your eyes."

Amaya shook her head.

"I wasn't staring at the sun," she replied, turning away.

The three blinked and watched Amaya's back.

"I'm going this way," she said, taking a different route to her house.

"Oh…okay, bye." Suki waved. "Here's my house, I'll see you guys."

"Bye!" the remaining two shouted, waving as Suki ascended her driveway.

After they turned the corner onto another block, they were rejoined by their favorite group of dead people.

"Hiya dog boy!" greeted Moriko, giving Inuyasha's ears a tweak.

Aki laughed and did the same.

"Hey, my parents are out tonight in Tokyo for a business meeting, wanna stay over?" asked Aki.

"Better believe it!" Moriko told her, grinning.

"Great, two idiots at one time," said Inuyasha, rolling his eyes.

"I'll call my mom when we get there and tell her," Moriko said, turning to where Aki had been a second ago. "Aki?"

"C'mon then!" she yelled, already dashing down the sidewalk, laughing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So…this thing is supposed to cook food without fire?" asked Shippo, sticking his hand into the microwave.

"Yes, these invisible waves make it hot," explained Kagome as Aki stuck two Hot Pockets into the microwave oven and closed the door.

It was four hours after they had gotten home, and now Aki and Moriko were hungry and ready to make dinner.

"Letsee…" Moriko muttered, reading the package, "Two minutes."

So Aki pressed the four button.

"You idiot," Moriko laughed.

"I'm not an idiot, I just can't cook!"

"That's obvious," Inuyasha mumbled.

Two minutes later, Moriko stopped the microwave and pulled out the packets.

"You're lucky you have me around."

"Not really," replied a laughing Aki.

Suddenly, they all jerked their heads toward the window as they heard a howl echo throughout the night.

"W-what was that?" asked Shippo, shaking.

All of a sudden, Aki had this indescribable feeling that something awful was going to happen.

Springing to her feet, she ran out the back door and skidded across her porch. Under the light of the full moon, she could make out a dark shape sprint across her lawn. It was moving quickly, and soon was off her property and running across her neighbors'. Without a second thought, she leaped into the grass and pursued it. There was something about the shadow darting ahead of her that made her shiver in fear. As the trees whizzed by, she realized how fast she was actually going. Faster than what she thought she was capable of, that was for sure. Suddenly Moriko ,ll,lvl,ll,g, vfg,ff.ldk.,.gh kmgkmg m,kmgk.bgk,ghb m,k,k.hk.k.n.k (sorry, that was my dog) appeared next to her, running just as fast, if not faster. Inuyasha was quick to follow. The shadow ahead seemed to realize it was being chased, and made a quick turn into some person's lawn. With a start, Aki realized that the shape was a huge wolf, its startling yellow eyes glaring menacingly at her, its long fangs dripping with what Aki hoped was saliva.

"Aki!" Moriko shouted, fear apparent in her voice, "Suki!"

"What?" Aki yelped, looking around. Sure enough, Suki was standing on her back patio, staring at the scene in front of her. Aki sped up.

"NO!" Aki screamed as the monster set his course for her friend. Suddenly, everything became clear in the dark, Aki could see individual leaves on trees, bugs crawling through the grass, cracks in the paint on the houses. She felt her fingernails form into long, sharpened claws while her teeth became needles. Her ears slowly flattened, then became covered with fur as two tiger ears poked out of her hair.

"What?" she yelped in surprise.

"AH!" Suki screamed as the wolf tackled her, knocking her over.

"SUKI!" Moriko yelled. Looking at her friend, Aki was amazed to see two fox ears poking out of Moriko's hair and her eyes glowing amber. Not stopping, she rammed into the wolf, slamming it into the side of the house. It quickly recovered and growled at her, standing up and baring its fangs.

While the wolf monster was distracted, Aki rushed to Suki's side to see that she had been knocked out, her head bleeding slightly. When she sat her up though, Aki gasped to see a huge bite mark on her left arm, a purple splotch steadily enveloping it. Quickly, she looked up to see the full moon shining down on them.

"Mor!" she yelled to her friend, "it's a werewolf!"

At these words, Inuyasha drew his Tetsusaiga and charged at the wolf.

"WIND SCAR!" he yelled, making a slashing motion through midair. Aki watched as an enormous amount of energy surged toward the werewolf. Before it could hit, however, it disappeared into thin air.

"No!" he yelled in frustration.

"The Spirit World must not be providing energy!" Miroku yelled, running across the lawn toward them, followed by Shippo and Kagome riding on demon Kilala.

The werewolf glared at these new intruders, blood dripping slowly from its fangs. Suddenly, it charged at Aki, its claws tearing up the bricks it treaded on.

When it was almost upon her, a dark shape flew into it and sent it flying into the patio table. The monster crashed through the glass and metal and lay still on the grass, blood slowly staining the vegetation brown. Aki looked up at the shape standing above her, ready for another fight, but instead came face-to-face with Amaya. Only, this version of Amaya had fangs and huge bat-like wings sticking out of her back.

"Amy?" she asked shakily.

She nodded.

"Yep."

Moriko turned around to look at her, then at Aki and Suki.

"What are we...?" she asked, looking down at her claws.

"Well, the way I see it," said Botan, appearing out of nowhere, "Amaya is a vampire, Suki is now a werewolf, and you two," she paused, looking at Aki and Moriko. "You two are demons."

* * *

AiShi: Okay, I have some good news for me, but whatever is good news for me you can bet is bad news for you. I'm going...#poses dramatically# FANFICTION SOUL SEARCHING!...Yep, I'm taking two months off to work on my more personal fanfictions and also just to take a well-deserved (and needed) break. So, sorry to all you peeps who absolutly can't live with out my regular updates, I'll pray for you at your funerals...but until then, I'll see you on March 7th with another fresh update! Byes! 

BUT WHAT IF 'FLUFFY' AND 'FUZZY' WERE NOUNS INSTEAD OF ADJECTIVES?


	10. Oh Dear Brother!

AiShi: You know what? I just realize that I could put anything right here in this rant box and you guys would read it. I mean, I could put _anything _and you guys would just be like drunken zombies, staring at the screen and reading what I have to say. It's kind of a fuzzy feeling inside, really. But I actually do have something important to say: I went back through the previous chapters and changed them a bit. Nothing huge, like I didn't twist the whole plot or anything, but still, I recommend re-reading the whole thing again. I have to say, the mistake that pissed me off most was the fact that in one chapter Inuyasha 'sit', in another, the necklace wouldn't work, and then in another, the necklace just decided to work again and no one gave any notice to it. I actually find that kind of funny. But yeah, small things like that.

AiShi84 doesn't think she needs a disclaimer anymore.

* * *

Aki walked down the busy sidewalks of downtown Nagoya, the sounds of car horns and heavy traffic not reaching her ears. Her mind was buzzing, replaying last night's events over and over again. They seemed too unreal to be true.

"Hey, watch it!" a teenage boy yelled as Aki walked into him.

"Sorry," Aki mumbled, not really paying attention. Her eyes slipped in and out of focus as she kept an unsteady pace on the pavement. As she stopped to wait for the light to change, once more she clearly saw the scene played out in her mind's eye.

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"No," Aki said firmly.

"Pardon?" Botan asked.

"I said 'no'. Moriko and I can't be demons, we were born into human families," Aki reasoned.

Botan looked at her, as if deciding how to answer her statement. Inuyasha was standing off to the side, staring openly while Miroku, Kagome, and Shippo walked over to their friend's side, Miroku helping Aki off the ground. Aki continued watching Botan, getting more impatient with each passing second at the Spirit Guide's delay. She glanced sideways to see the reactions of the others. Moriko, she was surprised to see, had moved to stand next to her while Amaya remained in the shadow of the house. Kilala had moved Suki onto the grass; Aki was glad to see the bite had stopped bleeding. Finally, Botan slid off her oar onto the cool grass and looked at her pointedly.

"Aki…Moriko…you both are from Makkai, the Demon World."

Both Aki's and Moriko's faces remained emotionless. Amaya turned slightly to gaze at Botan, while Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, and Shippo put on curious faces.

"The what?" Aki finally asked.

"I guess you could call it a different dimension. Demons originated there, and that's where most of them still reside."

"That doesn't explain how we became demons," Moriko said. "Tell us."

Botan opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a voice.

"Kurama should explain, Botan," said a teenage boy, stepping out of a cluster of trees.

Aki examined the teenager from where she stood. He looked a little bit older than her, with short, wavy, brown hair. He was dressed like he was royalty, complete with a cape. After all that had happened to her in the past week, she was not at all surprised to see he held a small, blue binky in his mouth.

"Koenma, sir!" Botan said in surprise.

"You!"

Everyone turned around to see Inuyasha pointing accusingly at Koenma.

"You're the idiot who's the reason we were all sent here!"

Koenma looked at Inuyasha with annoyance.

"I'd watch my mouth if I were you, dog. I could send you to Hell like that." He snapped his fingers for effect.

Inuyasha growled, but was silent.

"Like I said," Koenma continued, "let Kurama explain. He has waited for a long time, after all."

All of a sudden, Kurama stepped out of the shadows. He avoided their eyes as he walked up to where Koenma was and stopped. Finally, he looked at them.

"Moriko…Aki…" he started, then paused. "You…we…died awhile back."

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Aki laughed bitterly to herself and stomped across the road as the sign changed to 'walk'. She wasn't happy today, and why should she be? To top it all off after last night's events, her idiotic parents had scheduled a psychologist appointment for her this morning, thinking it would "choke her problems before they start". Well, she had news for them: they were way too late. She growled to herself and glanced at the address they had scribbled onto a piece of paper. 3781 Sizakoi Road, Nagoya. She looked around until she found a road sign that read 'Sizakoi' and trudged across another street until she was standing under it. Aki looked down the row of buildings until she saw a small brass plate embedded into the brick side of a building that matched the paper. She sighed and pushed open the glass door to see a large sitting room and two secretaries to the side, both chatting about their makeup. Aki rolled her eyes and walked up to them.

"Can I help you?" one asked, turning to look at her.

"I have an appointment with Mr. Daiku."

"Aki, right?" the other lady said, pulling up Aki's appointment on her computer. "Aki Seithr? He'll be with you in a moment, hon, you can just wait over there," she said, pointing to the waiting area.

Aki mumbled, "Thanks," and went over to sit down in an overstuffed armchair. She folded her arms and set her eyes on the clock. As the second-hand slowly circled the face, Aki's mind once again buzzed with memories.

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"Wonderful," Aki sneered. "So you're saying we're as dead as they are?" she asked, pointing to the spirits behind her. "Are we ghosts too?"

Kurama sighed and shook his head.

"No, it's much more complicated than that, I'm afraid."

"Go on," Moriko demanded.

"Awhile ago…" Kurama started, "we were comrades…thieves, if you will."

"Wait, what d'ya mean by 'awhile ago'?" Aki interrupted.

"I mean by in our past lives, for want of a better word."

"What?" Aki and Moriko asked in unison.

"Before you died," he answered. "Please," Kurama said as they opened their mouths to question further, "let me explain."

Aki and Moriko were silent, waiting for the demon to continue.

"In our past lives, we were famous thieves in Makkai. Quite possibly, we were on the top of every bounty hunter's Wanted list. We robbed all of Makkai and never were caught, until one day." Kurama's eyes flashed at this point, and his voice became quieter. "I was caught. But before this, we had lost another who practiced thievery with us, a bat demon named-"

"Kuronue," Moriko whispered.

Aki nodded, scared that they had both known the answer.

"Yes, Kuronue was killed. And I, myself, was to follow, except I attempted a last-ditch effort to save my life." He smiled weakly at this point. "Can you guess what I did?"

"…Drank unicorn's blood?" Aki asked feebly, thinking of Harry Potter.

Kurama shook his head.

"No, I managed to escape with what little life I had left to be reborn from a human mother." He paused. "I was rechristened with the name 'Shuichi', and was thought to be dead in Makkai."

Koenma stepped into the conversation.

"Since it appears you never kept your memories, I'll explain the rest from the information we have." He cleared his throat. "A couple years after Kurama's death, you two were caught by a bounty hunter, who starved you. You both then copied Kurama, and came to this dimension in the form of two human children, born just days from each other."

"If it makes you feel any better," said Botan, "the bounty hunter never did get to collect his rewards that would have come from the bodies of Aki and Moriko, the tiger and fox."

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"Aki Seithr," one of the secretaries called, snapping Aki out of her daze. Aki glanced over to see a middle-aged man standing in the doorway. He was small, shorter than Aki, and his face was very rounded with huge glasses perched upon his nose. Wispy, gray hair managed to cover most of the bald spots on the top of his head.

"Hello, Aki," he said.

Aki thought his voice sounded like a squeaky toy.

"Hello."

"I'm Mr. Daiku, if you would follow me, please," he told her, turning around and walking down one of the thin, white hallways branching off of the waiting room. Aki stood up and followed. They passed numerous offices, each where, Aki noticed, the patients inside looked miserable. "Here is my office," Daiku told her, turning into a sickening, peach-colored room with no windows. Across from a wooden desk was one, small chair that looked like it was about to break. As Daiku sat down behind the desk, Aki seated herself onto the old chair. "Well, Aki," he started, "your parents made this appointment, is that right?"

'_No, it was my dog,_' Aki thought sarcastically. Suddenly, she swallowed a laugh as the mental picture of Inuyasha trying to dial her phone came to mind. "Yes," she managed to say in a calm voice.

"And how does that make you feel?"

'_If Inuyasha scheduled it? Like I want to laugh._'

"Just fine," she answered.

"What grades do you get in school, Aki?"

"As and Bs," Aki managed to answer. Of course, that fact that she hadn't turned in any of her homework in the past week wasn't exactly going to help her.

"And how does that make you feel?"

"Good."

"That's good."

'_Isn't that what I just said?_'

Aki watched him as he started scribbling onto a clipboard.

"And how are things at home?"

"Fine."

"Do you have any problems?"

'_No,_' Aki sneered in her mind, '_the fact that I'm a demon and able to rip you to shreds is actually _very_ comforting._'

"None," she answered.

Daiku sighed.

"And now," he started, "I think the question is why you are hearing voices in your head?"

'_Because I really am insane, I think you would consider yourself mentally sick too if five ghosts, two demons, the Grim Reaper, and the Ruler of Spirit World were chatting with you last night._'

Aki said nothing.

At her silence, Daiku stood up and stretched.

"Done already?" Aki questioned.

"No," he answered, "I'm going to get a drink of water, I'll be right back."

As Aki watched him go, she sighed. Her images floated in and out of her mind.

'_Last night was a dream…it had to have been…there's no way I'm a demon…_'

Deciding there must have been some mistake, she pruned through her memories again, desperately hoping none of it was real.

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"So we're famous criminals from Makkai." Aki laughed dryly. "Who would've guessed?"

"And not only criminals," said Koenma, "Moriko, you're Kurama's sister."

Moriko stood rigid, staring at Kurama.

"Yoko?" she asked.

Kurama nodded his head 'yes'.

Cautiously, Moriko walked up to Kurama. Aki didn't know whether she would cry or hug him or both. She was wrong in all three cases, though, because Moriko whacked him upside the head.

"Don't you _dare_ die on me again! Do you understand that?" she yelled, her eyes glistening in the moonlight. "Don't you_ dare_!"

Kurama smiled and nodded.

"Good," Moriko sniffed, turning away.

Aki smiled at Kurama.

"Good to see you again, fox."

It was weird; Aki felt her memories multiplying. Images were flooding her mind, making her dizzy. It was as if a key had been turned to open a chest full of pictures. She remembered a summer night, running through a dense forest while clinging onto a bag of jewels. She remembered dodging arrows with a smirk on her face, Moriko right next to her side. She remembered sitting around a small fire with Kurama, Moriko, and Kuronue, passing a bag of dried meat around. She remembered herself and Moriko starving in chains, both in their original forms: a white tiger and a four-tailed fox. Weak, Aki sank to her knees.

"Aki?" Kagome asked frantically. "Aki, are you okay?"

"She'll be fine, her past memories just struck her at once, that's all," Botan explained.

Aki shook her head, clearing her mind. Being able to think clearly again, she stood up.

Suddenly, Amaya stepped out. Aki jumped; she had forgotten she was there.

"Is Suki going to be alright?" Amaya asked, walking over to her younger friend and folding her arms.

Aki and Moriko looked over to where Suki was laid on the grass, Kilala curled next to her in her demon form.

"The bite has already healed, if I'm correct," Kurama stated.

They looked at her arm; he was right. The deep gash had already covered over with new skin, and the only way you could tell she had ever gotten bitten was a white crescent-moon mark where the bite had been.

"So now she's a werewolf?" Kagome asked sadly.

"Yes," Koenma answered.

As soon as he said that, Suki started to stir. She opened her eyes slowly and muffled a groan. Blinking, she sat up and stared at everyone.

"Hey, Suki," Aki greeted, giving her a small smile.

Suki closed her eyes, then opened them again.

"So many questions, but I'm only going to limit them to one." Suki sighed. "Who are you people?"

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Suddenly, Daiku walked in the room. Aki watched him as he took a seat.

"Interesting," he muttered.

Aki didn't see what was so interesting about going to the bathroom, but decided to exercise her right to remain silent.

"Interesting," he said again, looking over his glasses to peer at Aki. "So you didn't make any movement during the time I was gone?"

Aki shook her head 'no'.

"I see…"

Annoyance flickered across Aki's face. Was he testing her? Instead of going to the restroom, did he just sit in front of a surveillance camera while she sat there, thinking? Aki looked around the room; sure enough, she saw a small video camera staring straight at her.

All of a sudden, someone knocked on the door.

"Excuse me," Daiku said, shuffling to the door. When he opened it, Aki caught a glance of one of the secretaries. She told him something Aki couldn't make out. Daiku turned to her.

"I'll be right back."

As he exited the room once again, the nurse stayed behind. The room was silent. The secretary shifted nervously and gave Aki a small smile, which Aki didn't return. Finally, Daiku walked into the room.

"Aki, it seems a young man is out here, claiming to be your brother and that he needs to take you home, something about an accident in the family," he told her.

Aki blinked. Brother? Since when did she have a brother?

"Here I am, sis!" a voice said from behind Daiku.

Aki stood up so she could see over the squat man's shoulder. Behind the psychologist, she saw a teenager who looked to be about Kurama's age, only this boy had slicked-back black hair and wore a stupid-looking grin. Aki pondered her choices for a moment. Either she could stay here in this nice, white room with Mr. Daiku, or she could go with some complete stranger who claimed to be her older brother. Decisions, decisions….

"Oh, dear brother!" Aki exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "What brings you here? I thought you were with mother?"

"I was, sis, but then she got sick and pa told me to come and get you!" the boy said.

"Our mother is sick?" Aki gasped. "Oh, dear! I must go at once!" She grabbed the boy's arm and steered him down the hallways, aware of the secretary and Daiku following her. Reaching the waiting room, she walked across it and out the door with her "brother" still in hand.

"They gone yet?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"Turn the corner," he answered.

After they had rounded the end building, Aki quickly let go of the teenager and stepped away.

"So," she asked, grinning, "who exactly are you?"

"A complete stranger," he answered. "Want some candy?" he asked, holding up a sucker.

"Sure!" Aki chirped, grabbing the hard candy from him.

"Just as dumb as Binky-Breath says…"

"Oh, so you know Koenma too?" Aki questioned, popping the lollipop in her mouth. "I see he's very popular."

The boy laughed.

"Nice acting in there, by the way."

"Are you kidding me? It was god-awful," Aki laughed. "So, who are you?"

"Yusuke Urameshi, Spirit Detective."

"Nice to meet you, Yusuke. I assume you know me?"

"Aki Seithr, tiger demon."

"That's _white_ tiger demon to you, thank you very much," Aki corrected. "So why'd you pick me up anyway, dear brother?"

"Binky-Breath told me something about 'testing your powers'." Yusuke shrugged.

Aki rolled her eyes.

"Oh, joy."

This had 'Military School' written all over its ugly face.

* * *

AiShi: Tenth update, over fifty pages, been going strong for six months, and breaching the invisible line that marks where the story starts to get more serious and more interesting. Hope you like it! 

I MEAN, YOU'D BE SURPRISED IF YOU FOUND OUT THAT HITLER'S MUSTASCHE WASN'T REAL


	11. Koenma's Palace Hell

AiShi: OMG! OMGOMGOMG! IT ACTUALLY WORKED! Listen, guys, I am SO SORRY I haven't updated for...well...forever. Here's the deal: my laptop broke down early March, pissing me off majorly. There's just so much shit going on with that issue right now, just read it all in my forum that I started. No idea how y'all will get there, so good luck. Sad thing is, MY LAPTOP'S STILL NOT FIXED. Right now I hi-jacked my mother's computer temporarily. I have most of the updates I missed written, and I'll be getting those up as soon as possible. PLEASE bear with me. IT'S NOT MY FAULT. Kii...just read the story...

* * *

"So…"

"So?"

"So how are we going to see Koenma?" Aki asked, throwing the bare lollipop stick into a garbage can.

"Botan's giving us a ride," said Yusuke, folding his arms behind his head.

Before Aki could have the chance to say 'huh?' Botan fell from the sky, her oar coming to a stop right before she hit the ground.

"There you are!" she exclaimed. "I've been looking all over Nagoya for you!"

"I told you I'd be near the shrink's."

"Do you know how many psychologists there are in Nagoya? Aki…is something wrong?"

As soon as Botan had confronted Yusuke, Aki had dashed in front of her. She was now trying to shield Botan completely, smiling as if nothing was wrong at passer-bys.

"Botan, people aren't used to seeing other people ride oars," she whispered through clenched teeth. The way she saw it, they were lucky no one had screamed yet. But, looking closer, no one actually seemed to notice her, much less the two behind her. "Umm…?"

"Don't worry, Tiger, Botan's got us covered," Yusuke told her, leaning back against a wall.

Aki blinked.

"As in we're invisible?"

"As in a barrier." Botan smiled. "Ready to go, Aki?"

"I'm all packed," Aki said, laughing.

"Then hop on," Botan said cheerfully, gesturing to her oar.

Aki cautiously lifted one leg over the oar and seated herself.

"Coming, Yusuke?" Botan asked.

"Yeah, yeah, gimme a second…" he mumbled, sitting down on the flat end.

"Hold on!" the Spirit Guide warned.

Aki nodded and wrapped her arms around Botan's waist, but yusuke just rolled his eyes.

"I don't need to hol-"

He was cut off as the oar lurched forward, sending him sprawling on the sidewalk.

"HEY!" he yelled, jumping up. "COME BACK HERE!"

Botan sighed.

"Should we turn back?" she asked.

"And pick up my dear brother?" Aki laughed. "Keep on chugging, Grim Reaper."

"As you wish, Aki-chan!" Botan said happily.

The two rose, the oar carrying them higher and higher.

"We wouldn't, by chance, be heading to the second star to the right, would we?" Aki yelled over the wind's whistle.

"Sorry, we don't make stops in Neverland!" Botan shouted back.

Aki hoped she was joking. Instead of pondering on the matter, she took to watching the clouds fall by. Suddenly, she felt a pulling sensation, like something was tugging at her soul. Surprised, Aki almost fell off.

"Almost there, Kiddo!" Botan told her encouragingly, grabbing onto her hand.

Aki waged a mental battle with the feeling, trying to push it out of her mind. Deciding she was not going to lose her soul on a joy ride, Aki quickly erected iron bars around her mind, shutting out the sensation completely. Coming to her senses, she tightened her grip around Botan.

"Here we are!" the Grim Reaper cheerfully exclaimed.

Aki opened her eyes to see laid before her an endless stretch of forest, a wild river snaking through it until it disappeared over the horizon. She gasped. Botan smiled at her reaction. As they soared over the landscape, Aki would not dare to blink, lest she miss the breath-taking scenary below her. Trees as tall as sky scrapers seemed to rocket up to brush her feet. Looking closer, she could make out life within and beneath the canopy of branches. Small villages seemed to appear out of nowhere – people and demons working side by side in their Spartan-like community. Aki noticed animals of all different species running through the woods, including a wolf as big as an elephant. Looking closer, Aki could see its three tails as it ran playfully underneath them. Hearing chirping, she tore her gaze away from the ground to see brightly-colored songbirds flying next to them, their wings beating rapidly. Most of them looked like ordinary canaries and sparrows, but some were different. Aki particularly noticed a red-feathered one that appeared to have five eyes. As she leaned over to get a better look at everything, she was pulled back by Botan.

"Don't fall off," she said. Suddenly, she pointed to a speck in the distance. "There's Lord Koenma's palace!"

Aki twisted her head around to look. As they drew closer, she could see spiraling turrets rise up to pierce the sky, supported by a huge lower build. Entirely constructed of gray marbled stone, it looked exactly like something out of a fairy-tale.

'_Actually, my whole life has become a fairy-tale,_' Aki realized.

The castle-like structure seemed to tower over them as the two flew past the main gates and over a jagged-edged wall. The oar slowed. Suddenly, Botan turned into a steep decline. Aki leaned back out of instinct as the oar descended, leveling off when they were feet from the grassy ground of a courtyard. As they came to a standstill, Aki shakily jumped off.

"I forgot to mention," she said, stretching, "that I'm terrified of heights."

"Aki-chan, I think you just forgot," said Botan as she dimounted her oar. With a twirl, she made it disappear.

"It's about time!" Aki heard Koenma huff. Turning around, she was greeted by the sight of Koenma, Moriko, Amaya, Suki, Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei all standing in the courtyard, Koenma with his arms crossed.

"How'd you all get here so fast?" Aki questioned.

"Portal."

"Portal."

"Yusuke had to use my portal." Oriko laughed. "When he dragged his butt to my house he was pissed.

"Wait," said Aki, "you three-"

"Four," Yusuke muttered.

"…four…came here through portals?"

"Isn't that what we said?" asked Suki.

"So Koenma created portals for you to jump through?"

"That sums it up." Amaya sighed. "And now he wants us to 'fully acknowledge our powers'-"

"That's right!" Koenma snapped. "You are all completely ignorant to your potential! With just a bit of training, any one of you could be a contender in a demon tournament!"

"Eh?" they all questioned.

"Oh boy…" Koenma muttered. "Ogre!"

Suddenly, a blue creature burst through a pair of double doors and came running into the courtyard.

"Sir?" he huffed.

"Ogre, stand right there and don't move," Koenma commanded, pointing at him. "Suki, I want you to attack him, only without your body."

Aki watched Suki nervously step up to the plate. She wondered what in the world Koenma was thinking. Poor Suki, last night must have been one of the poor girl's longest nights yet. Not only had she been bitten by a werewolf, becoming one herself, but now she could also see Inuyasha and the rest of the ghosts! Aki blinked.

'_Speaking of Inuyasha and the group, where are they?_' She looked around. As Aki opened her mouth to speak, Moriko interrupted her.

"They're on Earth."

"I hate it when you do that," Aki whined. "Why?"

"Well, this is the Spirit World, right?"

Aki nodded.

"And they're dead, right?"

She nodded again.

"Well, you felt that your soul was coming out when you came here, right?"

Once more, she nodded.

"So, since they're basically souls, they would probably be trapped here. I don't think they want that."

Aki started to nod, stopped herself, and shook her head 'no'.

"Exactly," said Moriko.

Aki looked back at Suki, who had not moved. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her fists clenched at her side. The wolf ears poking out of her hair were laid back, and her tail was bristled. Suddenly, she threw up her hands in disgust.

"Just what do you want me to do?" she snarled.

"Anything a normal demon could do!" said Koenma.

"A demon? I'm a werewolf! A one-day-old werewolf, to add to that, and you expect me to have some goddamn magical prowness!"

"Yes, because you have every power a demon should!" Koenma snapped back at her. He was obviously not used to being confronted.

Suki glared at him but said nothing.

"Now, try again."

The werewolf turned her icy stare to the ogre, who gulped. She closed her eyes. As a slight breeze swam through the courtyard, Suki swung her hand around, her palm facing George. Suddenly, the ogre yelped and grabbed his shoulder as a pinprick of blood was seen.

"Good," Koenma told her.

"Do you want me dead?" the ogre yelped, panicky.

"Aki, you try," said Koenma, ignoring his servant.

"Hey, I'm not attacking George," she said.

Koenma sighed.

"Fine, attack that tree over there," he said, pointing to a tall oak.

Aki stepped forward and set all her thoughts on attacking the tree. All of a sudden, she was startled to feel her fingernails (claws, in this form) grow hot, burning with enrgy. Almost against her will, she lifted her arm and slashed through the air with her claws. Aki stood, stunned, as four blazing green blades of energy pounded against the oak, slicing off slabs of bark and each leaving a deep, burning a gouge in the wood. Shocked, a single thought of relief that she had insisted on not attacking George ran through her mind. She turned back around to Koenma, noting the look of surprise evident on everyone's faces.

"Sorry about the tree…" Aki said sheepishly at everyone's silence.

Koenma turned to Kurama and muttered something. Aki saw Kurama nod, then murmur something in return.

Koenma nodded.

"Moriko, do the same," he instructed.

Moriko shrugged and took Aki's place Like Aki, it only took her one try to let loose a barrage of energy blades, only hers were glowing crimson. She blinked, then grinned.

"Coooool…"

"Duuuuuuude…" Aki said.

Koenma nodded at her.

"Now Ama-"

Before he could finish, the tree exploded into thousands of splinters. Everyone turned to Amaya, who dropped her hand.

"I've had time to practice," she said casually. She went over to a shaded spot and sat down. "If you want me to blow up trees, I'll be happy to help."

They all blinked, then Koenma clapped his hands.

"I want to see you all practicing."

Everyone blinked again and stared at him.

"Move it!" he snapped.

They all jumped. For the next few hours, they worked restlessly. Aki and Moriko both were desperately trying to pose a challenge to Kurama, who took it upon himself to train the two in a mock battle. So far, the only thing Aki and Moriko had succeeded in doing was exhausting themselves. As Koenma called Kurama over to where he was instructing Suki (much to Suki's displeasure) Aki edged closer to Moriko.

"Shall we imagine Kurama is a kidnapper?" she whispered to her friend.

Moriko blinked, then grinned and nodded as she realized what Aki was saying.

Suddenly, Amaya landed at their feet. She jumped up and swore. The two demons dodged her flailing wings.

"Shorty, you are going _down_!" Amaya yelled at Hiei, who was standing a couple yards away with his sword drawn.

"If you were at all competent," he said, "you would have noticed I was going to attack."

Aki and Moriko had found out that Amaya had actually been a vampire for awhile. Last night, she had told them about receiving the bite when she was a small child. Since she had had time to learn how to control her powers, Koenma had appointed Hiei to train her. So far, he had been kicking her ass from one end of Koenma's courtyard to another. Amaya was not happy. As the vampires flew at the fire demon, Kurama walked up to Aki and Moriko again.

"Sorry, shall we continue?" he asked.

They nodded. Before Kurama could assume his fighting stance, Moriko launched a barrage of red energy blades at him. As soon as he dodged, Aki stuck her foot out; he tripped over it. Immediately, before he had time to adjust his balance, Moriko jumped onto his back and Aki had her hand at his throat.

A huge smile crossed Moriko's face.

"You are a dead man, brother."

"But dead men tell no tales…" Aki said.

"Aw, how are we gonna convince the baby over there that we beat Kurama if he can't tell him so?" Moriko fake moaned. Laughing, they both let their victim up. Kurama just stared at them.

"What's with you?" asked Aki, sitting down next to him.

He smiled.

"You two always used that strategy."

Aki and Moriko shared glances. From what they could remember, they made up that show just to deal with kidnappers (in case they traveled to America one day); they never imagined that the same strategy had been in play a hundred or more years ago, also invented by them.

"Next time a Hindu comes up to me and asks 'Do you believe in life after death?' I'll say 'Yes, yes, I do believe in a life after death'…" Moriko muttered.

Aki ignored her.

"We really do have a lot to learn…" She sighed. Moriko sat down next to them.

"I thought I told you to practice!" Koenma shouted across the courtyard.

* * *

AiShi: So much drama in that first part I forgot to put in the disclaimer. Ah, well, you'll see it next update...whenever that might be...

...AND WHILE WE WERE TRAVELING DOWN THE TOILET...


	12. Pains and Fire

AiShi: OMG! I JUST GOT MY LAPTOP BACK AND I AM SOOOOOO HAPPIEEEEEEEE! Yay me. I'm too ecstatic to speak right now, so please read the fanfiction after the disclaimer. BEEEEEEEEP

Disclaimer: AiShi84 STILL does not own YuYu-Hakusho, InuYasha, Harry Potter, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. She does own Aki, Moriko, Suki, Amaya, and the story's plot line.

* * *

It was evening when Botan flew Aki home. She winced as the Spirit Guide landed.

"Cheer up, Aki-chan!" Botan said happily. "You were great today!"

Aki groaned and felt her head to make sure her tiger ears were not there.

"Botan, I almost fainted," she moaned, sliding off the oar. Aki rubbed a bruise on her arm. After she and Moriko had completely smoked Kurama, he became much more careful. Even though they had held their own against him, Kurama still managed to get in his share of attacks. Because of this, the poor girls were aching all over.

"Shit," Aki said as she took a step to her house. "Shit…Shit…Shit…"

"Aki!" Shippo exclaimed, running through the house's wall.

"Hey, Shippo!"

She held out her arms, but as soon as he jumped into them she collapsed.

"Aki, where were you?" Miroku asked, walking around the corner of her house.

"Aki, hey!" said Kagome, following. Kilala jumped onto Aki's shoulder and mewed.

"I feel really special," Aki said truthfully. The last time she had had a 'welcome home!' this big was when her whole family had come for her seventh birthday party.

"Surely this 'psychologist' meeting couldn't have taken the whole day?" Miroku asked. Aki thought he must have an I.Q. of two hundred, remembering the word 'psychologist'. Him being from five hundred years ago, and all.

"I'll come to pick you up tomorrow, Aki-chan!" Botan said, jumping on her oar.

"Tomorrow?" Aki wailed. "What d'ya mean 'tomorrow'?"

"Well, you can't expect to reach your full potential in a few hours of training, now, can you?"

Aki knew she was right.

"See ya, kiddos!" She waved to them as she pushed off. Within a minute, she had disappeared behind the cloud cover.

Aki turned back to her friends.

"Well, you see…"she started, "I really was at my psychologist's, I was! But then my dear brother came to pick me up and-"

"You have a brother?" Kagome asked.

"Long. Story. Anyway, so he came to pick me up and then brought me to Botan who took me to the Spirit World to train!"

They all stared at her.

"Oh! And I learned how to prune bushes," she said, "look!"

Raising her arm, she brought it down, unleashing a fresh barrage of energy blades. Leaves flew off of her bushes, but one of them set it on fire.

"SHIT!" Aki yelped. Jumping up, she stamped out the bush. Overall, her pruning job had resulted in a bush that looked like a flamethrower had been turned on it. They all sweatdropped.

"Ummm…" Aki said, "Am I allowed to go in my house?"

"You look like you've had a rough day," Kagome said, helping her up.

"Yeah, I have," Aki said, accepting the help. She walked inside; Miroku followed them with Shippo and Kilala. (Ooh! Lightning just flashed outside! )

"Your parents aren't home yet," Shippo explained, closing the door.

"Oh, Aki said. She looked up the long, steep stairway and thought longingly of the leftover salve from her previous wound. But right then, her legs decided they did not like her anymore. Aki growled and grabbed the rail to support herself.

"Must…get…painkiller..." She pushed herself up the first stair.

"You won't get far with this strategy."

Aki turned to glare a Miroku.

"If you have a better idea, I'd like to hear it!" she snapped. Suddenly, she flailed as Inuyasha picked her up from behind. "HOLY-" Aki yelped, grabbing on to him. As he set her down at the top a few moments later, Aki stood on tiptoe to glare him in the eyes.

"JUST WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF THANK YOU AND I HATE HEIGHTS SO WHAT IF YOU DROPPED ME I'D CRACK MY HEAD ON THE WOOD YOU IDIOT!" With her rant done, she thwacked him on the head and stomped into her room, entirely forgetting the fact that her legs were not working. With another glare, she slammed the door behind her. Once she had taken in her surroundings, she felt the pain (which had been numbed temporarily by pure spite) ebb back. She grabbed the jar of Kurama's ointment and rubbed it on her various bruises testily. As she was glaring at herself in the mirror, she was surprised to feel suddenly terribly sad. She blinked and swallowed back tears. All of a sudden, terror wormed its way through her mind. '_What?_' she thought weakly, falling to her knees. '_What in the world…?_'

'_No…_' a voice cried.

'_What?_'

'_No!_'

'_What?_'

'_NO!_'

"_What? What is it?_" Aki shouted out loud. The voice quieted.

'_Aki?_' it questioned weakly.

'_Moriko?_' Aki recognized her friend. '_Moriko? My god…Are you talking to me through my mind?_'

'_Aki…Aki, my…_'

She felt another wave of terror, and Moriko faded away.

"_Moriko? MORIKO?_" she screamed. "_Moriko, what-?_"

"Aki?"

A hand closed lightly over her wrist. She jerked her head up. Kagome was kneeling next to her, Shippo on her shoulder. Miroku and Inuyasha were standing behind them; Miroku looking worried, Inuyasha looking like he thought she had gone mad. Kilala mewed next to her elbow.

"Kilala!" Aki gasped. "Kilala, I need your help!"

"Aki, what-?"

Aki ignored Kagome and instead stood and yanked open her window. Kilala, who had already sensed Aki's distress, had transformed already and leaped through the wall. Aki shakily heaved herself onto her windowsill. Taking a breath, she jumped onto Kilala's back.

"Kilala, I need to see Moriko," she whispered weakly.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Inuyasha yelled after them as Kilala took off, running through the sky. Aki laced her fingers through the demon's cream-colored fur and held on tight.

"Hurry…"

Aki and Kilala raced through the sky, not slowing for anything. Cursing the nearly full moon for the light it cast on them, Aki scanned the ground for anyone who might catch sight of her. Her head was pounding faster than her heart was, which felt like a sledgehammer in her chest. How had she and Moriko linked minds? What was she terrified of? These unanswered questions only made Aki dizzy; she clutched Kilala tighter and laid her forehead against the demon. Kurama's herbal ointment was now taking slow effect, and her physical wounds were slowly fading. Even with this small relief, Aki felt double the pain from her pounding head. Her body had been sapped of all its remaining energy. She breathed heavily, struggling to keep her balance. Suddenly, Kilala whined and slowed. Aki raised her head. Below the two, a stream of smoke rose from slowly burning wreckage. Wooden support beams jutted from the ruins, and the stench of burning plaster filled Aki's nostrils. She coughed. Her eyes tearing up, she blinked and squinted down again. It was only as the moon came from behind a cloud that Aki could make out Moriko's tiny black form.

"Kilala, take me down!" Aki yelled.

Kilala obliged and landed next to Moriko. Aki stumbled onto the smoking grass.

"Moriko! Mori! What's going on?" she asked frantically.

Moriko did not bother to answer. Her eyes were tea-glazed and flickered with the flames. She was kneeling on the grass, staring at the smoldering sight before her.

"Mor?"

Aki dragged herself over to where her friend was. "Morik-" She stopped dead as she saw what Moriko was staring at. In the blazing inferno, under a blazing pile of debris, were four scorched bodies. As a wind shifted the flames slightly, Aki could see the faces of her and Moriko's parents.

* * *

AiShi: And here's the thing- even fanfictions marked as 'humor' have sad parts in them. I mean, reading a story where everything's just 'oh, nothing bad is going to happen to me, so I'm just going to insert little puns in my dialogue and act all goofy to make people laugh' is, let's face it, annoying. I don't mean to insult anyone, because sometimes those are fun to read, but this is a longer plot line and the continuous humor can get a little wearing after a while.

**YOU KNOW, SIMBA'S GOT TO REALLY STOP LEAVING HIS DAMN HAIR IN MY BRUSH BECAUSE MARIO SAID HE DIDN'T LIKE IT AND I'M TRYING TO TALK THE DAMN TOMATO INTO ACTUALLY GIVING ME A GODDAMN CELLPHONE.**

(Yes, I actually said that. And I didn't say it on purpose, either. It was six A.M. in the morning and I just had stumbled out of bed.)


	13. The Aura Inside

AiShi: Once again, really sorry my computer broke down and that these are late. I'm going to try to update tomorrow (May 18) but if I can't, I'll get it sometime this week. Enjoy peeps.

* * *

Aki's whole body trembled and she fell to the dry grass. She did not notice the dry bristles poking through her jeans, nor the blazing heat scorching her skin. Her only focus was on the terrorizing sight of her parents' burning, lifeless bodies. They were dead. What would she do now? Where would she live? How would she get money? Fleeting thoughts of desperate and drastic ideas crossed her mind, leaving as quickly as they had entered. A pressure was closing in. Her body was being squeezed, her soul was being crushed and her mind suffocating. The slight touch on her elbow immediately chased the pressure away, so that Aki felt oddly light, like she was drifting. She immediately tore her gaze away from the flickering flames to face the tear-streaked face of Moriko.

"Aki," she said weakly, "we can't-" She coughed violently, shaking, "we need to leave, we can't stay."

Aki looked at her as if from far away. Her friend's face swam in and out of her vision.

"Let's go." Only, these words caught in her throat. She bowed her head as a stream of tears cascaded down her face. Before she could stop herself, Aki dissolved into sobs. Behind her blurry eyes, she saw another beam slowly fall onto her parents. "No!" she cried, holding out a hand weakly. "No!"

Kilala nudged her, meowing softly. Aki put a hand on her forehead. As they sat there, a breeze tugged at the flames, pulling the glowing embers into the air. Aki paid no attention to the dry ashes blowing in her face. Suddenly, something flashed out of the corner of her eye. She felt her cheek; something had cut her. The three looked up. There, above the dancing flames, was a woman seated on a white feather the size of Botan's oar. The woman whipped open a fan she was holding.

"My, it _is_ nice to meet you," she said, smirking down at them. "I am Kagura, but I won't be offended if you don't remember. If you do, I doubt it would do you any good in the afterlife."

Kilala growled and her pupils dilated. Baring her spear-like fangs, she stepped in front of Aki and Moriko. Kagura's eyes widened in surprise.

"So, I see I'm not the only spirit in this neck of the woods." Kagura ran a finger along the blades of her fan. "I will assume Inuyasha is here as well?" A bitter look crossed her face. "No wonder Naraku has been more of a bastard recently. Of course, I don't really blame him; Hell can get tiring after five hundred years."

"Naraku…" Aki stared up at her. Naraku, the one that Botan and the others had been talking about. The Naraku that had been killed by Inuyasha's brother over five hundred years ago. He was in Hell. Suddenly, Botan's words came back to her.

"_Yes, but now that he's there, Hell has grown stronger and the spirits are starting to rebel._"

Aki stared at Kagura as she remembered the demons flying at her, the werewolf attacking Suki, the training they had gone through in the Spirit World. Now, her parents had been murdered, and from what she could tell, it was this 'Naraku's' fault.

"What is going on?" she whispered ferociously. Aki's fists clenched, her nails biting into her skin. "What is going on?" she repeated, struggling to her feet. Moriko rose beside her. Her head was pounding, aching with the combined forces of her previous telepathic connection, her misery, and her confusion of what was happening. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. Aki knew these events were somehow connected, someone knew something she did not. Liquid rage pulsed through her veins; Aki was vaguely aware of green flames licking at her skin. "WHAT IS GOING ON?" she screamed, fierce tears running down her face.

"TELL ME!" the two shouted in unison.

Kagura just smirked.

"I'm sorry, I just have to kill you – no reason I should explain anything to you little girls." The witch raised her arm. "Dance of the Dragon!"

Wind swirled around the three demons. Kilala whined. Immediately, gigantic spears of tornado-like winds zigzagged through the air towards them. Kagura laughed coldly.

"Die."

It was as if a switch had turned off Aki's mind; all her senses blurred. She barely registered that her and Moriko's minds were joined. The dagger ends of the funnels surged nearer, and the two numbly reached out. A whirlwind of color flashed before Aki's eyes. Red and green energy whipped around the two of them, and from what Aki could tell, protected them from the deathly winds. The tigress demon's limbs shook and her energy drained. She struggled to keep her eyes open and her body standing. From far away, she could see the auras rip through the night sky. She could taste blood in her mouth. She could smell the stench of smoke. She could hear a voice calling her name. From far away, she could feel her head hit the ground.

And the world turned black.

* * *

AiShi: And then I pop out of nowhere to say: sorry for the really short chapter, guys, it just seemed appropriate. I promise the next one will be much longer. And while I'm typing this up for you all, I really should be studying for my Spanish final. ; Crap, it's 10:00 too...well, I'm screwed. Better make up for it tomorrow!

**LISTEN, YOU. YOU CAN GIVE ME ADVICE ON WHAT CLOTHES I WEAR, WHEN TO TAKE NOTES IN CLASS, WHAT TO SAY, AND HOW TO BRUSH MY TEETH. BUT YOU NEVER, _EVER_, GIVE ME ADVICE ON HOW TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES. GOT THAT? GOOD!**


	14. Enter Jennsu

AiShi: Ha! I got it out before the week is over. 11:53 on a Saturday night, but, hey. I WIN! Yo know, I've had so much trouble typing 'Kurama' lately. It turns out 'Kurmama' or 'Kurma' So... ; Enjoy!

* * *

Aki watched her world spin. Demons gripped her, clawing at her feet and legs. They screeched and moaned, biting at her freezing cold ankles.

"Get away!" she yelled. Her voice had a strange, echoey quality to it. "Get away!"

Terrible screeching filled her ears and she clapped her hands to her head. But her hands were not hands. Aki looked at them; they were tiger paws. Now she could feel grass beneath her. Heat scorched her back. Aki tried to turn around but stumbled; her body had changed into a white tiger's. Suddenly, flames erupted in her face. She ran through a forest, weaving through trees with the raging fire forever at her heels. Something was wrong – bars were in front of her eyes. Aki screeched to a halt and tried to turn back, but more metal bars met her gaze. She was trapped! Frantically, she turned around and around, trying to find an escape. Screams pierced the air and from her prison Aki made out Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kagome caught in the blaze. Shippo and Kilala circled despairingly overhead, calling to their friends below. In desperation, Aki threw herself against the bars, but they did not break. There was nothing she could do but watch them burn. Soon the fire spread to her cage. As she was engulfed in flames, a cold, merciless laugh echoed through the dry crackling of the inferno. She could feel the terrible voice invading her mind, filling her every nerve-

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Aki sat straight up in bed, sweat running into her eyes. Something crashed right next to her. Hurriedly, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked around. She was in a sun-filled room with white carpets and walls. It was moderately sized and nicely furnished. Looking down, Aki saw a fallen chair with Kurama on top of it.

They both blinked.

"It's good to see you're awake," Kurama said, righting the chair again and sitting on it.

"Where are we?" asked Aki.

"Koenma has had you attended to in the Spirit World."

"Koenma? Why in the world am I not at ho-"

She stopped in mid-sentence.

Kurama looked away as she felt the memories of last night wash over her like a tsunami. Her parents. Dead. Kagura, Kagura had killed them. And something about Naraku, he had something to do with it all." She swallowed a sob and blinked away tears before turning back to Kurama.

"Where-" she paused and leveled her voice, "-where is Moriko?"

"Right next to you."

He pointed to her other side and Aki turned over. There, in a bed beside hers, was Moriko. Her face was half-hidden by her curly hair, but Aki could see a number of bruises and cuts covering what she could see.

"What happened to her?" Aki said, noticing what looked like four fox tails hanging over one side of Moriko's bed.

"She fell in the fire when she fainted," said Kurama. "They'll heal quickly."

"Oh," Aki said. "How…how are Inuyasha and the rest?"

"They're fine," said Koenma, opening the door and stepping in. "All of them are in your house right now."

Aki nodded, not looking up from her hands.

"Oh! Aki-chan!"

She looked up to see Botan standing behind Koenma, her hands clasped. "'m so glad you're awake! Are you hungry? Do you hurt? I bet you do, you poor thing-"

"That's enough, Botan!" Koenma said. "I was going to tell you when Moriko was awake, but you can pass on the message. You both are going to return to Earth after you heal."

Aki nodded. Koenma folded his hands behind his back. "And Aki," he added, "don't do anything stupid." Hey! I just got cookies! Yum.

The three watched him disappear out of the doorway, then Botan rushed to Aki's bedside and felt her forehead. OW! Hot cookies!

"I'm not sick, Botan," Aki said, leaning back into her pillows.

"Of course, I'll go get you something to eat, then,"

"But-"

"Aki, you haven't eaten in four days, said Kurama.

Aki blinked.

"You and Moriko were both knocked out. You two are lucky you didn't both lose your lives."

"…Oh." Aki did not really know what to say.

"Moriko woke about a day ago," he explained as Botan walked out of the room.

Suddenly, Aki noticed her one hand was warm, while her other was cold. She looked at Kurama questioningly, but he was looking up at the door.

"It looks as though you have even more visitors."

"AAAAAKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Suki pushed past Kurama with Amaya following close behind. They both looked extremely worried.

"Hey, guys," Aki smiled at the sight of her friends.

Suddenly, two streaks of red flashed in front of her eyes. She recoiled back into her pillows, while Suki and Amaya ducked. They all looked to Moriko, who was now sitting up in her bed and breathing had. She brushed hair out of her hazel eyes with a shaking hand.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Hey, Mor."

"Hey, Aki."

"I'll leave you four to yourselves," Kurama said, standing up. He walked out of the room and closed the door quietly behind him. Suki rolled her eyes.

"What the hell is with the gentleman act?"

She muttered to herself.

Amaya ignored her.

"We just talked to Inuyasha and them all. They told us to tell you that they're doing fine. Actually, Inuyasha told you to 'goddamn heal already'."

Aki laughed. Suddenly, she found herself talking. Talking like she had been silent for weeks. She was not aware of what she was saying, or even what the topic of conversation was, but Moriko was talking with her as much as she was. Suki and Amaya were good listeners, occasionally adding their input. Aki knew they were trying to find an appropriate time to mention the subject of her parents, so she filled up all possible chances with her voice. She was glad when Botan brought her and Moriko in two bowls of soup.

"Kurama told me Mori-chan was awake!" Botan explained, setting a soup bowl next to Moriko's bedside.

"Mori-chan" twitched at her new nickname, but did not bother to say anything. Aki felt weary and sank into her bad pillows.

"Aki," Suki started, "What happened when your parents-"

Aki suddenly jumped out of bed, startling Suki and Amaya.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she lied. Aki turned to Botan. "You guys do have a bathroom, right?"

"Aki-chan, this is the Spirit World, you shouldn't have to-" She stopped at the look on Aki's face. "Let me show you where it is," she said, motioning for Aki to follow. Aki tailed her; while she was doing so, she noticed that her muscles were really sore. When they reached the end of the hallway, Botan turned to face her. "We don't have a restroom, because this is the Spirit Realm. Naturally, all needs are met as they come."

"Then why did you give us soup?" Aki questioned, thinking that she had really not been hungry after all.

"Concentrated energy," she explained. "I thought you both needed something normal."

"Normal? Since when is eating energy normal?"

Botan blinked.

"Aki-chan, food on Earth is just energy mixed with matter."

"…Oh," Aki said. Botan gave her a warm smile.

"If you want to walk around awhile, I'm sure Koenma won't mind."

"Thank you," Aki said.

Truthfully, Aki could have kissed Botan at that moment. Solitude was worth more than anything to her at that moment. With a wave to the Spirit Guide, Aki turned the corner and set a steady pace down the high-ceilinged hall. The hallways were not empty, however. People and demons walked past her, most carrying stacks of papers. Even some animals were carrying scrolls in their teeth. Aki felt out of place in the busy palace. She lazed down the hall with her hands in her pockets, being careful not to step on any of the smaller animals. As she was about to turn the corner something slammed into her, making her jump back. A girl who looked about her age blinked as she looked up from the floor. The girl eyes Aki's empty, scroll-free arms suspiciously, then jumped up and grabbed her hand.

"Thank the sprits you're here!" she exclaimed in hurried English. "This place is a mess; we really need your help."

Aki was too surprised to resist being led down another hallway by the girl, who was now talking rapidly to Aki.

"One more set of hands is better than none, dust and grime on every inch of this castle! And what's more-" As she kept on muttering to herself, Aki tried to gather up the bit of English she knew.

"I ummm…do not…know…English," she said finally.

The girl stopped and turned around.

"French?" she said.

Aki shook her head, wondering what the heck she just asked.

The girl paused for a moment.

"Japanese?"

Aki nodded vigorously.

"You really don't look it," she said to herself in English. "Come with me," said the girl in shaky Japanese; Aki could tell she was new to the language.

'_What's to lose?_' Aki thought to herself, and allowed the girl to lead her. They twisted through various halls and scaled several stairways. As they crossed an unfamiliar courtyard, Aki thought she would be lucky to find half of her way back. Suddenly, Aki ran into the girl.

"Here we are!" she said happily, opening a wooden door.

Aki blinked and looked around a brightly-lit room. Different shades of blue tiles coated the floor, and the walls were a creamy-white color.

"The uniform of yours is there," the girl told her, pointing to a wardrobe across the room.

Aki blinked, then crossed the tiled floor and opened the chestnut wood doors. Inside were neatly stacked and folded black dresses with lace lining, fish net stockings, and black, high-heeled shoes. Aki stared at the maid costumes.

"Eh…?"

"You will be cleaning Koenma-sama's office," the girl explained.

Aki almost laughed. She had been mistaken for one of the castle's cleaners, while she was really supposed to be sleeping in her bed right now. As she remembered why she was supposed to be in bed in the first place, the smile threatening to show on her face shattered. Aki turned back to the wardrobe.

'_A bit of work would do you good,_' she told herself. Aki picked up a dress and observed it. She held it up to her figure; it looked to be her size. The tiger demoness picked up a pair of shoes and stockings and gazed around for a dressing room. She successfully located one to the right of her and ducked into it. Aki had to admit, she was not used to putting on a dress.

Five exasperating minutes later, Aki emerged from the dressing room, clad in traditional maids' wear. She smiled to herself and smoothed out her dress. Then Aki noticed the girl was holding a clipboard with something scribbled on the back of it. Moving closer, she saw it was a name.

"Jennsu" it read.

"Jennsu…" Aki murmured to herself.

"What?" the girl said, turning around.

"It's nothing, I just know someone online named Jennsu, and-"

"What is your name?" the girl asked curiously.

"My name's Aki-"

"Aki?" The girl's widened.

"Yeah, I-" Aki stopped. "Are you Jenny?"

"Actually, Jennsu is my real name," the girl said, a grin crossing her face. "I had no idea you worked in the Spirit World," she said excitedly. "I thought you were just-"

"-Another normal teenage girl. Yeah, I did too." Aki managed a laugh. "Actually, I don't work here, I'm here because-" Aki felt another twang of pain in her chest, "-because…I became really sick," she finished. Aki felt bad for lying to new-found fried, but she knew she would feel worse if she relived her parents' deaths.

"Oh, and I mistook you for a maid! Why did you not say you were not a worker?"

"I had no idea what you were saying," Aki told Jennsu truthfully.

"I feel dumb, now," Jennsu laughed.

"Can I still clean Koenma's room?" Aki asked.

Jennsu blinked.

"Sure, if you want to. It would really help us," she said. "Here's what you'll need."

Aki took the feather duster and the mop Jennsu was offering to her.

"Cool."

* * *

AiShi: Watching Fullmetal Alchemist while I type this... So, ENTER JENNSU! See ya next Saturday!

**HEY! THAT'S THE WOMAN WHO KILLED ME!**


	15. A Maid's Work is Never Done

AiShi: Okay, first things first – a shout-out. I have to say, out of all the people who have reviewed this fanfiction so far (to all of which I am eternally grateful) only ONE, may I repeat myself, ONE has reviewed it with even an inkling of negativity. And I just have to say, I am so happy. No, seriously. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love positive reviews! But, FINALLY someone has told me what is wrong with my story! I'm certainly no perfectionist, and I'm not stupid enough to live in the fantasy where I think this fanfiction couldn't be better. So, THANK YOU RAYE SUN!

Disclaimer: God, I don't own anything except the plot and my characters, so would you just find some other poor author to pick on!

* * *

Koenma sighed as he sat at his desk, poring over his work. Ruffled papers were scattered on every available space in front of him; they were all reports from over twenty years ago. Some were in scribbled, hurried handwriting, while some had been typed on computers and typewriters. Stacks of old photographs were mixed in the mess, and even a small amulet was nestled between two long and detailed descriptions. Koenma sighed again and looked over the headline of one of the reports.

WANTED

Yoko Kurama, Skriata, Tirei, Kuronue

DANGEROUS THIEVES AT LARGE IN MAKKAI

Four faces glared up at him from a picture below the title. Underneath each one's photo was a brief physical description and a list of charges against each one, which stretched to the bottom of the yellowing scroll. Koenma traced his finger down each list, skimming the small writing with a bored look on his face.

Suddenly, someone knocked on his door.

"Cleaning!" a voice called from outside.

"Come in," Koenma said absentmindedly, not looking up from his papers.

"Hi, Koenma!" Aki shouted in greeting as she entered the room.

Koenma jumped and his binky fell out of his mouth.

"Aki!" he yelped. "What in the worlds-?"

"I'm cleaning," Aki said, brandishing a feather-duster.

Koenma hastily swept the papers into one of his desk drawers and shut it with a snap.

"I thought you were recovering," he huffed, testily brushing off his binky and putting it back in his mouth.

"I was," Aki said.

"Then what are you doing cleaning?" he asked.

Aki shrugged.

"Long story," she said vaguely. Setting down a bucket of water and a mop, Aki walked over to one of the dirtier corners and started attacking it with her duster and a wet rag.

"I can see you aren't exactly bed-ridden," Koenma said, crossing his arms.

"No."

Koenma watched her for a moment.

"Are you ready to go back to Earth?"

Aki's enthusiasm dimmed. She was silent for awhile while she cleaned.

"What day is it?" she asked finally.

"In Japan it's Wednesday afternoon," he said.

Aki absentmindedly polished his furniture.

"Kurama has suggested that you and Moriko stay at his human mother's house in Tokyo."

"His house?" asked Aki.

"Yes, need I repeat it again? Like I was saying, when you are both ready and well you'll go with him to his house," said Koenma.

"Oh, alright."

They were both silent for awhile.

"What…what will I do when I'm back on Earth?" Aki said, not removing her eyes from her job.

"I was thinking you both would continue your training here."

"And are you ever going to tell us _why _we're training?"

"You will find out when you need to, there's no reason-"

Aki's voice was cold when she spoke.

"Koenma, my parents were murdered. Murdered by a _ghost. _I'm not an idiot, I can put two and two together. By the way she was speaking, Kagura was from Hell, and from what I've heard, you're having trouble keeping Hell in check. So, I've come to the conclusion that we're being trained to work for you by being bodyguards."

"No," Koenma said, "you're being trained to fight in a war I believe is approaching rapidly."

"Between what?" Aki snarled. "The Spirit World and Hell? Well, guess what? I don't give a damn about your stinking-"

"And what about Earth? Do you really think it will be safe from any of this? Once dimensions are at war, all of them are involved!" Koenma snapped. "If we lose this, evil spirits are free to roam wherever they want; the human population will probably be wiped out in mere days!"

Aki stepped back, surprised by Koenma's outburst, but even more taken aback by the meaning of his words.

"So…so we are in a war!" Aki shouted.

Koenma leaned against the back of his chair.

"Yes, Aki, we are in a war. We've been in a war since Naraku died five hundred years ago."

_Naraku._ There was that name again.

"Listen," Aki said, running a hand back through her hair, "who is Naraku?"

"Naraku… a powerful demon who managed to weaken Hell's boundaries. He happens to also be the leader of all this."

"Naraku…so if you take him out, it's all over? And what role are we playing in this?"

"Half of the Spirit World is fighting already," Koenma said. "But it's not enough. We need you, Aki. You and Moriko, Suki, and Amaya."

Aki was quiet for a moment, absentmindedly polishing Koenma's furniture.

"But, if they aren't alive, how do you kill them?"

"If you inflict on them what would be a mortal wound to an alive person, they are trapped in Hell forever."

"Oh…" Aki said. Suddenly, tears started to fill up her eyes. Her parents' death seemed so real to her right now, and the pressure came crashing down on her all at once. She turned away quickly and started vigorously scrubbing the tile floor with her mop. Aki was glad when George knocked and entered the room.

"Koenma, sir," he said.

"Hi, George!" Aki greeted, thankful that her voice was normal.

"Hello, Aki." Turning back to Koenma, George continued. "Botan's reported having some trouble, sir."

"Trouble? How can she be having trouble? She wasn't even doing anything important!" Koenma said.

"Sir…" George fidgeted a bit, like he really did not want to say what came next. "She said the Inuyasha won't let go of her oar, sir."

Aki stared at George, then started to snigger.

"What?" Koenma asked.

"She said that he wants to go to the Spirit World, and that the others want the same."

Koenma let his face fall into his small hands.

"Tell her that if they want to come here, fine, but I'm not going to care that they die permanently."

"No, no, tell them I'm coming," Aki said, dunking the mop in the bucket of water. "I'll be at Kurama's house by tomorrow."

George nodded.

"As you say, Aki."

As he turned and left, Koenma looked back at her.

"You should go back o your room, Aki, and get some rest before going back."

Aki smiled and turned away, brushing a stray tear off of her cheek.

"Oh, I will." She laughed to herself. "_After_ I clean your office, that is."

* * *

AiShi: Listen guys, I'm sorry my chapters have been so short, but it's not something I control. No, seriously, my characters are writing for themselves. Listen, I know it sounds cheesy and all, but it's true. It's scary. O.o

**I WANT YOUR LITTLE SOLDIERS!**


	16. The Tears Finally Flow

AiShi: Omg, it's summer. OMG, IT'S SUMMER! W00t! I can't believe it! Well, I think it's official, these characters are not mine. Well, technically they are (DON'T STEAL) but they aren't. Originally they were supposed to be self-inserts of me and my friends, but that is really not true anymore. Aki is her own person! Hurray to Aki!

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blahblahblah, blah blah, etc., etc.

* * *

Hot air rose in wavy blurs from the busy streets of downtown Tokyo. Cars and trucks moved through the molasses-like traffic like huge metal snails, and the blasting of horns continuously sounded through the still autumn air. Brown leaves swirled down to the gray sidewalks, which were lined with bustling people, most of them carrying briefcases or suitcases. Down the urban sidewalks, some passer-bys stopped to gaze up awkwardly, then, shaking their heads, continue on their way. Aki dangled her legs out of a two-story window, glaring down at the people watching her with an icy stare. Moriko sat on a bed behind her friend, staring up at the blank ceiling with an equally blank expression. Kilala was seated next to Aki, naturally out of sight to the humans below. Kagome and Shippo were quietly watching their friends from a chair in the corner, every now and then shooting each other worried looks.

Aki watched the cars pass slowly. Her mind was a blur, racing thoughts sometimes standing out among the other muck that was holding her back. She absentmindedly rested a hand on Kilala's head. Kilala mewed.

Suddenly, it was as if she was watching her actions without doing them. Her hand moved up to her face and waved. Aki's head tilted to see her legs swing back and forth. One of her legs jerked suddenly, and Aki felt her balance vanish.

"Aah!" Aki's voice yelled as her arms flailed, trying to find a stronghold. Just as she was about to slide off the windowsill, two sets of arms wrapped around her. Aki's eyes swiveled to see Inuyasha and Miroku pulling her out-of-control body back into the room. When she was safely sitting on the carpet, Aki's line of vision landed on the spot where Kilala had been sitting moments before; she was not there. Aki blinked, regaining control of her body. Kilala, appearing out of nowhere, bounded up to her, mewing excitedly. Aki shook her head to make sure she was controlling her movements and stood up.

"That was weird," she mumbled.

"You idiot, if you can't keep your damn balance don't sit there again!" Inuyasha said.

"Aki, are you okay?" Kagome and Shippo asked at the same time.

"I'm fine."

Aki's eyes reassumed their glazed state and she went back to looking out the window, almost entirely forgetting the strange incident that happened moments before. Moriko, who had looked over at Aki's behavior, looked back up at the ceiling as someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," she mumbled.

Kurama closed the door behind him as he entered.

"Hi, Kurama," Kagome greeted.

"Hello," he said.

"Hey," Aki said, not turning around.

Kurama paused.

"My mother would like to know if you two need anything."

"Nothing," Moriko and Aki said simultaneously. (I spelled that right on the first try. Go me.)

"She's beginning to become worried," Kurama said, crossing his arms. "Neither of you have eaten anything since you got here."

"So?" Moriko asked emotionlessly.

"It's been two days."

"I'm not hungry," said Aki.

"I'll tell her to bring up two sandwiches," Kurama said, walking out the door.

"Hey, wait a second-!" Aki stood up and walked after him into the hall, shutting the door after her. "Kurama, we don't want anything."

Kurama turned around.

"You're going to starve."

"I don't care."

They were both silent. Kurama looked at Aki with an emotion she could not make out…wait, was it pity? Yes, it was pity, she was sure of it.

"I-" she began.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked, interrupting her.

Aki's apprehensive demeanor dimmed.

"Yeah," she said finally, "I would.

Aki slipped on her shoes and as the two were passing the kitchen, Kurama's mother appeared at the door.

"Moriko would like a sandwich, mother," Kurama said as Aki put on a fake smile.

"Oh, good, I was hoping she'd eat something. Would you like anything, Aki?"

"I'm okay, but thank you. I was just going for a walk."

"Okay, dear, don't stay out too long."

"I won't." Aki smiled again and then walked outside with Kurama.

The sidewalks were still crowded with people, but Aki was unaffected by the small impatient pushes they gave her as they passed. Instead of complaining, she crossed the street and few into pace with the crowd, Kurama following her. Aki shoved her hands in her pockets and kept her head low. She really did not feel like having the sunlight shine on her face. Tomorrow was going to be one week since her parents died, she realized gloomily. She felt her face flush and ducked it lower, hoping she would not start crying in public. Aki breathed slowly and felt herself calm. Even though she had hidden her face, Kurama had not been fooled and fell into step with her.

"Aki, it's okay to miss your parents," Kurama said quietly.

Aki said nothing, but walked faster. Kurama caught up and tried again.

"No one is going to think you're weak. Feeling at a loss isn't a weakness."

Avoiding him, Aki stepped off the busy sidewalk onto a park's pathway, Kurama following her.

Surprisingly, the park was extremely unpopulated. As far as Aki could see, they were the only ones in the park. Trees rose up on either side of them as Aki turned onto a different path. Minutes passed in silence as they walked down the dirt path, the leaves creating dappled shadows on their faces. Finally, Aki decided to speak.

"It's not even like they were my real parents, anyway," she said, giving Kurama a sad smile.

"That's not true."

"What do you mean? My real parents were demons."

Kurama shook his head.

"Aki, your parents loved you as much as your original parents did. Even more."

Aki looked at him for the first time since they had started walking.

"What?"

Kurama sighed.

"The whole reason you became a thief…was because your parents abandoned you."

Aki stared at the fox.

"Why? Why would they do that?" she asked quietly as she stopped walking.

Kurama hesitated and stopped too.

"You were born a white tiger…a white tiger with green eyes." He looked away. "It was supposed to be a sign that you were cursed."

"So you're telling me that one set of my parents were assholes and now the other set's dead?" Aki laughed, but choked on a sob. "That kind of leaves me screwed, doesn't it?" Her voice cracked as her eyes became filled with tears. "And it's because of me, too! It's because of me!"

Not being able to take it anymore, she burst into sobs. It was all her fault- she was the one who made her mother and father die their terrible deaths, Aki was certain. Why else would Kagura have killed them if Aki was not a demon? If Aki had never even met Kagome and the others, would things have turned out differently? Would she still have at least one set of her parents?

Not noticing what she was doing, she sunk to the dirt and cried into her hands. All the misery she had been holding back burst through a dam in her mind and flowed down her cheeks. A hand rested on her shoulder lightly.

"It's not because of you," Kurama said, kneeling beside her. Aki raised her tear-streaked face to laugh dryly.

"Yes, it really is."

Then she was crying on his shoulder, waves of tears running down her face, her sobs becoming louder until they startled the birds from the trees. Kurama stayed still, holding her hand.

"Skriata, it's not your fault," he whispered.

Aki wiped another flood of tears away and looked up to see in Kurama's place, a silver-haired demon looking kindly down at her.

"Yoko," she sniffed, smiling. "I haven't seen you for awhile."

After she said them, the words seemed all too true. More memories came back to her mind, and yet another portion of her life was filled in. She remembered having her life saved by Yoko more than once, wrestling him playfully for a small gemstone, laughing together as Moriko kicked Kuronue's ass for the umpteenth time after he had snagged her share of that day's loot. After a smile from the fox demon, Kurama came back again.

"Aki, you had nothing to do with your parents' deaths."

"That's a lie," Aki said, her voice still uneven.

Kurama said nothing.

"Thanks, Kurama," Aki said, wiping away another tear.

"It's okay."

Aki sat up and looked up at the canopy of green leaves they were under, the ground lit by green light as the sun shone through.

"It's weird," Aki said suddenly, "to actually know that you can't really expect them to bail you out of everything anymore. I suppose I realized the same thing when I got older, but now it's like it's final. And you know what? I really wish they were here right now to help me out of this mess. I mean, I'm trying to help five ghosts come back to life while battling Hell so it doesn't take over the Spirit World.

"But I _want_ to help. Call me crazy, I've been called it before, but it's my responsibility now, and I won't back down if I can help. I'm scared- scared I'm going to fail, or get hurt, or die. Probably I'm scared of dying the most, but then again, who isn't? I'm sure Moriko feels the same way. I also feel terrible, like somehow I've ended up dragging Amaya and Suki into this. I realize it's not my fault that Suki was bitten; the werewolf broke the barrier in Hell. And Amaya was a vampire before I even knew her.

"But what I'm most amazed by is how Inuyasha and the others are handling themselves- it's not even like they're worried about coming back to life. Frankly, I think they care more about me then getting their bodies back. It's amazing, because it's like I hold their lives in my hand, and they hold mine in theirs. And not only that, they trust me. I know I'll never forgive myself if I let them down; I've let too many down already.

"So, I want to learn how to fight, I want to save the Spirit World, or at least help, and I need to bring them back- I suppose I need to prove something to myself. And I'll do my best, I really will. I'd give my life for them, as cheesy as that sounds." She looked back at Kurama, who was listening intently.

"I think it shows that you're a great person, Aki," he said.

She smiled a genuine smile this time.

"Thanks, Kurama."

"So, you really do wanna learn how to fight?"

The tigress and the fox jumped.

"I thought Koenma was just giving me work for the heck of it."

They looked around the park, trying to find the source of the words. At the same time, the two pinpointed where the voice was coming from and stood up hesitantly, ready for a battle.

"It's okay, I won't bite. That's what I'm here to teach _you_ how to do."

Suddenly, a tiger stepped from the foliage to stand in front of them. Two glowing blue eyes observed the two as long, wiry whiskers twitched. Black fur spread over its muscular body, while jagged white stripes twisted themselves about the sleek onyx coat. It looked like the opposite of a regular white tiger. Aki and Kurama watched it apprehensively as its paws transformed into hands and feet, its snout shortened, and its limbs readjusted to bend the way a human's does. In mere moments, a girl looking about the age of sixteen stood before them, dressed in black clothing while tiger ears poked out of her black hair.

"Glad to meet ya," she said cheerfully. "My name's Tai, but you can address me as Tai-sensei, Aki." Tai held out a hand, and Aki could see her tail hanging behind her.

After a few moments, Tai withdrew her clawed hand.

"Well, I suppose you aced the first lesson- never trust a stranger. Ya might wanna trust me, though, because I'm your personal trainer. Better get used to it."

"You know what?" Aki said. "I've met more people in these past two weeks than I have in my entire life. Forgive me if I ask, 'why do you know about me?'"

"Koenma assigned me to train you and Moriko, considering the upcoming war and all."

"And what about Suki and Amaya?" Kurama asked. Even though he had only met Tai a few seconds ago, he was still on top of everything.

"Alex's taking care of them."

"Alex?"

"She's a wolf demon," Tai explained. "You'll meet her later, but right now I just came to let you know you're going to be training all tomorrow, so let Moriko know."

"But…I…"

Tai smiled at Aki.

"Sorry to meet you so suddenly, but I can tell you've got what it takes kid. Koenma, Botan, _and_ Jenny all vouched for you. Not to mention Sango."

"Who?"

"Sango!" Tai grinned and her tail wagged. "She says you've got to be strong if you're putting up with Inuyasha _and_ Miroku."

Aki smiled and laughed.

"Can you tell them all 'thank you'?"

"Well, not all of them," Tai said with a guilty look on her face. "I wasn't supposed to tell you they said that." She grinned. "I'll see you tomorrow. I'm sending Botan to pick you guys up."

With that, Tai disappeared.

Kurama and Aki looked at each other.

"I'll come with you," he said.

"Thanks."

As they turned to leave, Aki looked up to the bright, cloudless sky and smiled at it. She might have a very tough time ahead of her, she knew that. She might experience even more losses. She knew that there was no way this was going to be easy, but she still smiled at the sky because Aki knew this adventure was just beginning.

* * *

AiShi: And with that ending sentence I think I just increased this story's length by five chapters. Well, I meant to get this out yesterday but oh well, I'M OUTTA SCHOOL! And by the way, I'd like to congratulate Bri and Jenny on doing an excellent job in the talent show. You guys were great!

**AND POINT 'A' REARS HIS RED HEAD.**


	17. Rawr!

AiShi: Okay, you know what? I have to dedicate this chapter to Raye Sun, who is just the best reviewer I could hope for. Seriously, not only does she state where she believes the story is going, she gives positive AND negative advice. And that's not all, she really shows enthusiasm about my story, too! (Not that you all don't, but I'm caught up in the moment here.) I love all reviews, I really do, but it's just one like that which inspires me. Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: Freak, if you haven't gotten it through your head now that AiShi84 DOES NOT own InuYasha/YuYu Hakusho/ Pringles/ Pacman/ Harry Potter/ etc./ etc./ etc., get a brain transplant, seriously. …No, I'm being completely serious.

* * *

"Suki, stop it. We have to catch the stupid bus." 

"Hang on a second!"

"Suki…"

"Sshhh!"

Amaya crossed her arms in annoyance and stood on the sidewalk, tapping her foot impatiently. Suki smirked evilly as she concealed herself in a leafy bush nearby, positioning herself so all that was showing of her was her wolf tail, which she had out at the moment. Her golden eyes followed two children who were walking towards the two – they looked to be about seven or eight. Amaya, who just saw the children, let her face fall into her palm.

Suddenly, one of the little children – a girl – made a hushing motion to the other girl and pointed to Suki's tail, which was wagging innocently.

"It's a puppy!" Amaya heard the girl whisper excitedly.

The girls ran over to the bush and stood around it, smiling widely at each other.

"Call it!" the other one said quietly.

The other child took a deep breath.

"Here, puppy puppy!" she called, bending over and clapping her hands.

They waited for a few seconds.

"It's not working…" the one girl said, frowning.

"I'll try again. Puppy pup-!"

"RAWR!" Suki leaped out in front of the children, snarling. Terrified, the kids screamed bloody murder and shot down the sidewalk, tripping over each other in their haste to get away from the monster. As Suki collapsed onto the ground, laughing, Amaya held back a grin and instead rolled her eyes.

"Have you forgotten why we're waiting for the bus in the first place?" she asked.

"'Course I haven't, Amy," Suki said, propping herself up on her elbows. "We're going to visit Aki and Mor."

"No…" Amaya shook her head in exasperation. "We're going to go to that abandoned baseball field out of town and train."

"Same thing."

"Put your tail away."

Suki pouted and her fluffy brown and black tail disappeared.

"Do you know when they're coming back?" she questioned, standing up and brushing the grass off her pants.

"Now how would I know that?"

"I'm just asking," Suki mumbled defensively.

They stood in silence for a couple of minutes, watching the brown leaves fall around them, adding color to the gray autumn morning.

Finally, the bus drove around the corner and pulled up in front of the two. As its doors opened, they both walked up the steps, dropped their money in the metal collection box, and found a seat near the back. The bus started to move and they both looked out the window automatically.

"Wouldn't it just be easier if you flew us?" Suki said, keeping her voice down. It was a wasted effort – the bus was full of people talking and she would not have been heard anyway.

"Oh, _yeah,_" Amaya said sarcastically. "I wouldn't stick out at _all._"

Giving up on any further communication with the vampiress, Suki crossed her arms and fell back into the seat.

The autobus drove down the roads, occasionally stopping to allow passengers on or off. Amaya and Suki both looked away as the smoldering wreckage of Moriko's house whizzed by the windows. The two avoided each other's gaze.

As people started to get off at their various stops, both of their thoughts started to wander. Driving by an empty lot of grass, Amaya jumped up suddenly and pushed the 'stop' button. The bus screeched to a halt, and the two jumped off into the overgrown tangle of weeds. The driver closed the doors and drove off, leaving them alone in the deserted area. They looked at each other.

"Better get training." Suki sighed, kicking a stray pebble.

"And that's what I like to hear!"

Both girls whipped around at the cheerful voice. Behind them, framed against the orange morning sun, stood a teenage girl. She had a huge smile on her face and her hands on her hips. Silver hair that seemed to glow in the rusty sunlight stretched down to the small of her back, her amber eyes twinkling merrily.

Within the instant, Suki and Amaya had shifted into their other forms, both now at the ready and prepared for a fight.

"I see reflexes will need a little work," the girl said boredly, "and your senses need a definite tuning. Otherwise, I'll have to see." As she tossed her hair, the two could make out white wolf ears on top of the girl's head.

"I suppose you'll need a formal greeting?" she asked, seeing the looks of confusion and disbelief on Suki's and Amaya's faces. "My name's Alex, and that baby in the high chair assigned me to be your trainer. Nice to meet you."

As she recovered from the shock, Amaya's face clouded over.

"Trainer, eh?" she said coldly. "Maybe you can answer a couple of questions I have, then." She took a step towards Alex. "Why's Koenma treating us like tools?"

Alex blinked, then swiftly dodged the attack that Amaya threw at her.

"Okay, that is definitely no way to treat your elders!" the wolf demon chided, tut-tutting at the scorch marks streaking the ground where she had been standing moments before.

"Amy, don't lose your head-"

"Shut up, Suki! I'm tired of being jacked around!" Amaya snarled. "Look what happened because of these idiots! Aki and Moriko have no family! _You'_re a werewolf! Or perhaps you forgot that?"

Suki glared at her, but was silent.

"Now are you going to answer me-?" Amaya turned around to see an empty field. "Suki, where'd she go?"

But as the vampiress looked back at her friend, she saw Suki's face smiling smugly.

"Suki…?" Amaya blinked at her friend's odd behavior until she saw Suki's dusty golden eyes had suddenly turned into a bright, clear yellow. It was not much of a difference, but Amaya could tell.

"You get out of Suki!" she yelled.

"Sorry to be a bother," Alex's smooth voice had replaced Suki's, "but come find me when you want to learn how to fight. I'll be in the Spirit Realm."

Amaya glared at her.

"You tell Koenma to get some different servants, because I'm through. Oh, I'll battle – that you can be sure of. I'll fight, but you just let him know that I'm my own army. And if he doesn't like that…"

Amaya held up her middle finger. Suki's face formed into an expression of disdain.

"How rude," Alex said.

From within Suki, a bright flash of light exploded, illuminating the clearing for a brief moment before it dispersed, leaving the werewolf to catch herself before her head hit the ground. Suki blinked, her eyes back to gold, and sat up.

"Frick," she muttered, rubbing her head, "that was weird…"

Amaya glowered up at the sky.

"Damn it all," she muttered. "Damn it all to Hell."

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"Finally," Koenma grumbled as Alex sauntered into his office a few minutes later. Tai was leaning on his desk, playing with a model of the Earth, throwing the detailed plastic globe up into the air and catching it.

Alex sighed and shrugged.

"I've been dead for over a thousand years – go easy on me, twerp."

"Well?" Koenma asked impatiently. "Do they know?"

"Yep!" said Tai cheerfully, but then paused. "Well, I'm assuming Moriko knows. She didn't go on the walk with Aki and Kurama."

"If you're going to do a job, do it right, for crying out loud!"

"Calm down before you wet yourself," Alex muttered. "What's the news on the war?"

"That's why I'm impatient!" Koenma snapped. "One of our spies has heard we're going to be engaged in war by tomorrow!"

"Ooh, like a wedding?" Tai asked excitedly. "I love weddings! Should I bring flowers?"

Alex ignored her.

"A spy? I didn't know you had spies up your sleeve."

Koenma nodded and gestured to the door, which George, who was standing at his side, hurried to open.

As Alex saw who was on the other side, she smiled.

"Whoever said you couldn't teach an old dog new tricks, eh?"

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Aki opened the bedroom door and flopped down next to where Moriko was sitting.

"Where you been?" she asked emotionlessly.

"Places," Aki said, hoping she was not blushing from her previous encounter with Kurama.

"I see."

"Hey, Aki?" Shippo said, jumping onto his friend's back.

"Mhmm?" Aki mumbled.

"Inuyasha keeps saying that 'checkers' is a kind of food and he won't listen when I'm trying to tell him it's a plant! Make him listen!"

Aki rolled over.

"What?" she asked incredulously. Aki looked to Kagome for an explanation but the girl's face was hidden in her hand.

Aki blinked.

"Let me do it," Moriko muttered. Standing up, she walked over to the window where Inuyasha was practicing hovering.

She opened it.

"YOU STUPID DOG, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT 'CHECKERS' IS A KIND OF PEANUT. NOW LEAVE THE KID ALONE!" She slammed the window shut and sat back on the bed. "There, I took care of it. Now go entertain yourself – play checkers or something," Moriko told Shippo.

Aki smiled to herself as Shippo jumped off the bed, a confused look on his face. Suddenly, Miroku walked through the outside wall.

"Aki, you have a visito-"

"Aki!"

The tigress jumped as Tai appeared right next to her.

"Long time no see, eh?" the other tiger said. "The monk your doorman now?"

Moriko looked at Aki.

"Okay, I know we've been friends for a really long time but because of how these past two weeks have gone I won't hesitate to say 'Aki, goddamn, if you don't tell me who this person is I'll mount your head on my non-existent wall, so help me gods-"

"Moriko, it's okay," Aki said. "She's a friend."

"Really?" Tai asked. "Yay!"

Moriko raised an eyebrow.

"She's like you are when you're high on Mountain Dew."

Aki sweatdropped.

"Here's the bad news: she's our trainer."

Moriko slapped her forehead.

"I knew it."

"Not only that!" Tai interrupted. "Now I'm your commander now! Come on, get up and get ready!"

"What?" the two demons asked blankly.

Now it was Tai's turn to slap her forehead.

"You're going into battle tomorrow, idiots!" She grabbed Aki's hand and started to lead her towards the window. "Hell's planning an attack, and this is probably the deciding point-"

Aki pulled her hand away.

"You can't expect us to fight now!" she said, taking a step back.

"Who are you?" Inuyasha had walked in the room and he had unsheathed his sword at the sight of Tai.

"Oh! For goodness sake!" Tai said, exasperated.

"Tai…" Kagome started, standing up, "they need a chance to train-"

"Kagome, dear," Tai said, "this isn't some game we're playing – this is _war_."

"I-I never meant that…" Kagome mumbled.

"What she means to say," Miroku intervened, "is that we're fighting too."

Aki looked up at the monk.

"Good choice," said a voice from the doorway.

Everyone turned to see Kurama leaning against the doorframe.

"If Koenma loses this battle it is likely you will never regain your former lives," he said gravely.

Kagome swore, which startled Aki. She had never heard Kagome curse; if she did, she had forgotten about it.

"Well, what are we here for?" Kagome said, pointing to Tai. "Take us to the Spirit World!"

Tai thought for a moment.

"Ya know, it _is_ possible you're souls will become bound there and you won't be able to return to life anyway."

"Always a catch with you dead people, I swear." Moriko held out her arms, which Kilala jumped into. "Don't you ever just say 'Hey, here you go, have your life back!'?"

Tai shook her head.

"Nope."

Aki sighed, then looked up at everybody.

"I want you guys to have another chance at life."

"Well, won't we have a better chance if we help fight?" Shippo pointed out.

"Yes, but-"

"Then obviously we must assist," Miroku said cheerfully, stepping up next to Aki.

The tigress looked down to the ground as she felt her throat clench. She swallowed and held back tears.

"Thanks, guys," she said quietly. When she looked back up, everyone was smiling at her, except Inuyasha. He rolled his eyes.

"It's not like I care, or anything…" he said matter-of-factly.

"We're your friends, Aki, there's no way we couldn't help you," Kagome said kindly.

Aki looked back down at the floor and smiled.

"Thank you…"

"Well, Tai, will we be leaving immediately?" Kurama questioned.

"Yep, Koenma's orders."

"Tai." Aki looked up, a fire burning in her brilliant green eyes. "As many have said before -lead the way."

* * *

AiShi: Zzzzzzzzzz…soooooo…tiiiiiiireddddd…zzzzzz…WAAH! I'M AWAKE! Sorry, I've just been exhausted because I've been going to an Akido sword training day camp and my arms really hurt…ow. Just a heads up – I may be a little late in getting some of my updates done on time for July because I'm going EVERYWHERE. Okay, maybe not everywhere… but I have a lot of family stuffs and even though some of you may not know it, I sort of do have a life other than updating. Happy Early Fourth, peeps! 

**PLEASE DON'T EAT ME, KAIRI…**

**-ELMO**


	18. Reenter Sango!

AiShi: Hiya peeps! Ummm… I'd like to say my eight of cups tarot card inspired me to do this…because it did. Yay inspirational tarot cards!

* * *

Koenma's palace doors burst open as Aki strode in, followed by Tai, Moriko, Kurama, Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo, and Miroku. Without a word, Jennsu, who was waiting for them in the entrance hall, motioned for the group to follow her and started down a hallway.

"Koenma," Tai greeted when they had walked through his office door. "We have a few more soldiers than I thought we would."

Looking over Tai's shoulder, Aki almost laughed as she saw Koenma buried up to his nose in paperwork.

"What the toddler demanded, standing on tiptoe to peer over his mountain-like amount of work. "Did you pick up some idiots off the streets or-"

He stopped talking when he saw who were behind them.

"Hey, at least they can fight," Alex said, stepping out from behind the massive workload. She absentmindedly brushed a post-it note off of one of her tails.

"Who're you?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Alex," she said, pulling a lock of silver hair out of her eyes. "Next time you ask me a question I suggest you be more polite unless you want to be force-fed to a sea monster, maggot."

Surprised at her icy and unusual threat, Inuyasha stepped back.

Koenma ignored the two and cleared his throat.

"In any case, we now have four more competent fighters-"

"Hey…" Shippo mumbled, crossing his arms.

"-which will help us win this battle. But, as you are probably aware of, we have under ten hours to equip, train, and arrange as many warriors as we can, which is looking to be about some three million souls."

Aki's mouth fell open, but Kagome looked a bit crestfallen.

"But on Earth there are over 4 billion people," she pointed out. "Not even counting the billions of animals."

"Indeed, and every single one of them are reincarnated souls."

"And I bet a bunch are jumping the boat 'cause of this war, aren't they?" Aki asked.

"You guessed it, kid." Alex sighed and folded her arms.

"But what have they got to lose?" Moriko said. "They're already dead, so who cares if they die again? It's just a bit of brief pain, right?"

"Actually…" Koenma, fed up with hardly being able to see, pushed over a stack of papers so he could look at them squarely. "If one dies, their soul… dies, for want of a better word."

"It's crushed," Tai explained. "Disappears. Doesn't exist anymore."

The group gulped.

"That's worse than death…" Shippo mumbled, hugging Kilala. The demon cat mewed sadly.

"How many does Naraku have?" Moriko asked.

"Over five million…" Tai muttered gloomily, "According to our spy."

"Great." The vixen rolled her eyes.

"Spy?" Miroku asked.

"Certainly, tools of the trade in every war, aren't they?" Alex said, raising an eyebrow. "Actually, I believe you are familiar with ours."

"We are?" Kagome questioned. "But who…?"

"Let's look behind door number one!" Tai said, pulling open Koenma's office door.

They all stared at who was standing outside.

"You!" Inuyasha snarled.

"Me," a tall demon long, silver hair answered simply. A huge cream-colored boa was draped over his shoulder, and he was wearing expensive-looking ancient armor.

"Goddamn it, what are you up to?" Inuyasha yelled.

"Is should ask the same of you," the demon replied coldly.

Aki nervously glanced at the spy before edging back slightly. She did not like this guy… Moriko, however, stepped up to him boldly.

"And who are you?" she asked.

"My name is no concern of yours."

'_That's Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's brother,_' a voice told Aki through her mind.

Aki jumped. The voice was female, but not anyone's that she recognized.

'_Look down._'

The tigress obeyed and saw Kilala brushing up against her leg.

'_Oh, you've got to be kidding me. The demon ghost cat can talk, now?_' Aki said, picking Kilala up.

'_I could always talk,_' Kilala said matter-of-factly, '_Just no one could hear me._'

'_Interesting response._' Aki smiled. '_Now what did you say? This is Inuyasha's brother?_'

'_Indeed, and he's tried to kill Inuyasha before. It's terrible the way they fight and usually someone ends up with a missing or broken limb._'

'_Sesshomaru…hey, wasn't he the one who-_'

"Inuyasha!"

Aki started at Kagome's voice.

"Dog, put that away!" Alex barked harshly. (Sorry for the pun…)

Inuyasha ignored them and held his giant sword at eye-level to his half-brother.

"Inuyasha, obviously he's been of great aid to the Spirit World-" Miroku started, but Inuyasha cut him off.

"Just who do you think this is? A spy for the Spirit World? Ha! He's likely a spy to do Naraku's bidding!"

"How little of a brain do you have?" Sesshomaru said calmly, though Aki saw his eyes flash. "I killed that sham of a demon long ago; do you honestly believe he would trust me after that?"

Inuyasha, having nothing to say in his defense, reluctantly sheathed his sword.

"Now shake hands and make up," Alex said coldly, glaring at the two. This order was met by icy stares and otherwise ignored.

Kurama, who had been silent during this whole ordeal, stepped forward.

"I believe Aki and Moriko should meet the other warriors," he said suddenly.

"Right," Koenma agreed, eager to prevent a battle between the two siblings. "Tai, Alex, introduce them to who they will be working with."

Alex shrugged and walked out the door. Everyone followed her without complaint. Once again, they were led by Jennsu, who flawlessly wove her way through the maze-like corridors without a second thought.

'_You know what? I just want to murder that guy with a pencil._'

Aki grinned as Moriko's voice filled her head.

'_His name's Sesshomaru…and couldn't you have just told me this?_' she asked.

'_What? Hell no, he probably has hearing to rival both of ours._'

'_True. Why do you hate him so much, though?_'

'_He was wearing eye shadow._'

'_It was probably just some of his demon markings…_'

'_It was eye shadow, Aki._'

Aki shrugged.

'_Whatever you say._'

'_It's eye shadow,_' Kilala said, pouncing up on Aki's shoulder.

Moriko jerked.

"Who the hell…?" she asked aloud.

Aki laughed.

"Mor, meet Kilala. Kilala, Mor."

Moriko's face was priceless.

"She can _talk_?" she asked, her voice full of nothing but pure, untouched joy.

"Moriko, never sound so happy again. You make me twitch."

Out of nowhere, Amaya materialized between the two.

"Amaya!" Against her better judgment, Aki tackled her friend in a hug.

"Aaaah, it burns…" the vampiress hissed.

"New trick?" Moriko asked, referring to her invisibility moments before.

"That midget actually taught me something," said Amaya as Aki let go of her.

"Guys!" Suki shouted, running down the hall towards them.

"God, we're so glad to see you two!" Aki said.

Suki grinned and then turned to Kagome and the others.

"You won't _believe_ who I just met."

They all looked curiously at her.

"C'mon!" the werewolf wheeled around and sprinted down the hall again.

"Well, c'mon!" Tai said at their hesitation and ran down the hall after Suki. Everyone shrugged and followed them down the hall and out a heavy wooden door at the end.

Outdoors the sky of the Spirit Dimension was unusually dreary and clouded over. Aki looked up at it curiously.

"I didn't know it could rain in the Spirit World," she said.

"The weather usually takes the physical form of everyone's major emotion," Alex explained. "Obviously, everyone's feeling pretty crummy with this damn war hanging over our heads."

"Oh, I-" Aki suddenly bumped into Kagome, who had stopped walking. "Sorry, Kagome!"

But Kagome did not even seem to notice her friend. Instead, she just stared ahead. Aki looked over her shoulder to see Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippo in the same sort of stupor.

"Well, I have to say, I haven't seen you for over five hundred years!"

Aki's eyes snapped to the source of the voice. Before her stood a pretty woman with long, dark brown hair. She seemed to be dressed in some sort of armor. What amazed Aki most was that on the woman's back rested an enormous boomerang – it must have weighed a hundred pounds. Aki felt Kilala stiffen on her shoulder.

'_Sango?_' she mewed. Within a second, the cat had bounded off of Aki and had made a terrific leap into the woman's arms.

"Kilala!" the woman exclaimed happily.

"Was this the friend they left behind?" Moriko asked Aki.

Aki shrugged.

"I guess so," she answered.

Miroku unfroze first. Immediately, he walked up to Sango and wrapped his arms around her.

Aki, Moriko, Suki, and Amaya all shared glances.

"Three, two, one…" they counted. Sure enough, there was a resounding CRACK and Miroku stepped back, a red hand mark on his face but he was smiling nonetheless.

"Pervert," Sango muttered, blushing furiously. "After five hundred years, that's the kind of greeting I get…"

"Sango!" Kagome said, running up to her friend.

Sango smiled.

"Kagome-chan!"

They both hugged and took a good look at each other.

"I'm so happy to see you!" Kagome exclaimed.

"I've missed you, too!" Sango said. "I've missed all of you!"

Shippo joyously hugged Sango too, then turned and pointed to Aki.

"Sango, this is Aki! She's helped us a lot!" he said, leading her over.

Sango smiled and held out her hand.

"My name is Sango, I've heard so much about you."

"I'm Aki," Aki said, shaking the demon slayer's hand. "Likewise. This is Moriko, and I'm pretty sure you've met those two already." Aki motioned to Suki and Amaya.

"I have," said Sango.

"Moriko, Aki," Tai said, "The clock's ticking and time's not cheap."

Aki nodded. But, as she turned to go, Jennsu stopped her.

"Aki, I need to say something."

Aki turned around, surprised.

"I just want you to know…" she hesitated, but continued. "I would like to ride before you when we start to fight."

The tigress smiled at Jennsu. Then, having a burst of inspiration, she pulled a short, black hair out of her tail and held it out in the palm of her hand.

"It may not be much," she said, "But I remember reading once that in China, tiger hair is supposed to bring luck." Aki grinned sheepishly. "I might be crazy, but I hope it will help."

Jennsu beamed and tucked the hair in her pocket.

"Thank you, Aki."

"Well, isn't this a sentimental moment?" Moriko said. "But, we have preparing to do. Let's get started."

* * *

AiShi: Okay, I feel really…I dunno. Some weird unnamed emotion. Is fangirl an emotion? I think it is. I have absolutely no idea why I'm telling you all this…but a new Orlando Bloom fangirl has officially been created…in the form of me. Curse you Orlando Bloom… curse you and all of your huggableness… Curse you Legolas…

On a slightly less-weird note, the next July update is going to be late because I'm going to Alaska/California for three weeks. I'll keep writing though!

Oh, and also, about the tiger hair thing…it really is used for good luck. And while a couple hairs may be harmless, there are tiger hunters in China who sell all of their body parts to poor, overly-superstitious people. Tiger numbers have drastically decreased due to this common practice. Help save the tigers, because their numbers are dwindling. While you're at it, save the wolves too! You wouldn't want poor Aki or Suki to become extinct, now, would you?

Anyway, thanks for listening to my rants. Review please, and bon voyage!

**LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THESE AIR FROGS, MAN…**


	19. Strategies Take Time

AiShi: Um…I'm watching Sword in the Stone right now with my cousin…so… I'm a bit unfocused at the moment. Good thing I have this written already and now I'm just typing it. I'm really sorry that it's so late, but I've had relatives to deal with right after I came home. Sorry!

Disclaimer: Same old, same old…

Aki's mouth fell open.

"We're supposed to _what_?" she asked.

"You and Tirei will come up with a strategy," Koenma repeated.

"And just _why_ are you asking us?" Moriko said, folding her arms.

"First of all, I'm not asking you, I'm _telling _you. Second, you both were the greatest strategists of your time. Ever wonder why you were never caught?"

"Until we died," Aki pointed out.

"Yes, well, you never actually died," Koenma said hastily.

"But we have full confidence in your abilities, Aki-chan!" Botan exclaimed, suddenly appearing behind them.

Aki, who had thoroughly gotten used to people popping out of nowhere, did not even twitch at the Spirit Guide's sudden arrival.

"Thanks, Botan," she murmured.

"So, Sango," Kagome said, obviously wanting to change the subject, "did you find your family?"

Sango smiled.

"I did."

As if on cue, a voice rang out.

"Sister!"

A boy came running up to greet them – he was dressed in the same type of clothing as Sango was, and looked like her too, once Aki got a better look at him.

"It's Kohaku!" Kagome gasped.

"Do you remember Kagome and Inuyasha?" Sango asked.

Kohaku smiled at them.

"I sure do," he answered.

Kagome, Miroku, and Sango shared glances.

"But, Kohaku," Miroku started, "is it not true that you were under Naraku's control-?"

"We're here," Koenma interrupted, halting at the end of a cliff.

Moriko, who had been walking beside him, stopped and peered down the sheer drop-off.

"Hey, guys, take a look at this…"

"Cool, ain't it?" Suki asked. "We've seen it."

Aki moved beside her friends and look over the edge.

"Holy Hell…"

Below her, a vast, expressionless plain spread from the base of the cliff, it's enormous face broken only by tall forests, giant with age and magic, lining the sides of the field. While this was very amazing in itself, Aki was flabbergasted to see that, laid out before her like a swarm of ants, were soldiers of every type and race.

Mighty creatures scaled the skies, demon and animal alike. Below these, thousands upon thousands of people were spread over the landscape – all multi-colored dots. With her new demon sight, Aki could make out tails and animal ears on some of them, and, to her surprise, some did not look even remotely human or animal. All of the animals that were not sky-capable mixed with the soldiers, looking just as battle-worthy. Aki could hardly believe this sight.

"You will be in charge of these lives," Koenma said gravely.

"I will be in charge of their souls," Aki corrected quietly.

As she looked over the landscape again sadly, she received a quick whap upside the head. She turned around to see Moriko looking straight at her, an annoyed expression on her face.

"_We_ will be in charge of their souls," Moriko said, folding her arms.

Suki and Amaya shared smiles.

"_All_ of us are!" they said together.

Everyone around them couldn't help but to smile.

"I'm leaving," said Sesshomaru coldly, turning to go. "I'll collect more information."

"Report back at their tent," Koenma ordered.

Sesshomaru gave the Spirit Ruler an icy glare, but left without comment. Inuyasha glared after him.

"Aki, send him into the fight first – I hope he loses what soul he has," the half demon muttered.

Aki blinked.

"Sibling rivalry, much," Amaya whispered to her.

She laughed.

"This is no time for jokes!" Koenma scolded. "Now, your tent is down there," he said, pointing to a crimson speck at the base of the cliff. "I won't disturb you – I have to take care of other things. I'm sending Sango, Botan, and Jennsu with you. They know more about this battle than the rest of the Spirit World put together, unfortunately. Koga will help you with your strategy later. I also believe two others should be there to help – you'll find them in the tent."

He walked away, then paused.

"You should find someone else in there, too," he added.

"Excuse me, sir, did you say…Koga?" Kagome asked. Behind her, Aki was startled to see Inuyasha absolutely fuming.

"That stinking wolf's got no business in this!" he yelled, stomping his foot.

"God, Inuyasha, did you, like, get rabies or something?" said Moriko. (The dog jokes will never end!)

"No! I just want to know what this midget thinks that idiot could possibly add!"

"I'm picking up some rivalry here…" said Suki.

"No, really?" said Tai and Alex sarcastically.

"This Koga, is he a wolf demon?" asked Aki.

"Or is he an actual wolf?"

Everyone looked at Moriko.

"I've seen too much not to expect it," she said.

"He's demon," Sango told them, sighing. "Come, you should meet the ones you will be working with."

"Um…okay." Aki peered over the side of the cliff once again. "Quick question," she said, turning around, "how are we going to get down there?"

Tai smiled and walked up to her.

"Aki, Aki, Aki…" the demon grinned. "Do you really wanna know?"

Seeing the gleam in her trainer's eyes, the tigress stepped back.

"Well, um, actually, now that you mention it…"

"See you at the bottom!" Tai said cheerfully. In less than a second, the fellow tigress had rushed Aki and had shoved her off the side .

"Meep!" Aki squeaked as she teetered on the edge. "Shitshitshitshitshitshit!" she yelled, trying to regain her balance. But, as some of you might guess, it is indeed very hard to do that when you are nearly horizontal in the air. You have to give the girl credit though – she nearly hung in there for three seconds.

"AIIIIIIYEEEEEEEEEE!" she screamed, falling through the air. She flailed, looking for something to grab onto. Nothing.

Great.

Without thinking, she whipped around in midair like some sort of freak gymnast, her hands and feet now splayed out before her. The ground came closer, rushing up to meet her…

Pain jolted up Aki's limbs as they absorbed the impact. She moaned and rolled over onto her side.

"So cats really do land on their feet."

Aki opened one eye.

"Go away, Yusuke," she groaned, trying to ignore the dull thud of pain.

"Well, thanks for _dropping in_, Tiger. By the way, your tail looks like it's trying to imitate a bottlebrush."

Aki pressed her face into the grass and swore incomprehensibly.

"Who's that, Urameshi?"

Aki turned her head, annoyed and looking slightly frazzled. Standing next to her was Yusuke, but beside him was someone she had never met. He was tall, had bright orange hair and looked to be about seventeen.

"Hey! She has kitty ears!" the orange-haired said.

"Yeah, Kuwabara, she's a tiger."

"Kitty…"

Kuwabara reached out to touch her ears. Seeing the hand nearing her, Aki did what every self-respecting tiger that had just been pushed from a five hundred-foot cliff would do.

"AH! She bit me!"

"Oh, god, sorry!"

"It's bleeding!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"Ahh!"

Yusuke fell over onto the grass, his legs shaking too much from laughter to support himself.

"Shut up, Yusuke!" snapped Aki, trying to keep her own pain-filled legs from giving out. "You aren't helping!"

Yusuke was laughing too hard to respond.

"Who's the orange?" Moriko asked, sliding down a not-vertical part of the cliff.

"I'm fine thanks," Aki muttered. "Where's Tai? I'm going to _disembowel_ her."

Moriko looked up.

"Hey, Hiei!" she yelled, pointing to Kuwabara. "Who's this?"

Aki gave her friend a weird look.

"And how would he know?"

"Kuwabara," the fire demon answered, appearing next to her.

Moriko grinned.

"Shut up," Aki mumbled. "Kuwabara, I'm sorry!"

"Sorry for what?" Suki asked.

Amaya had flown her down, while Botan took Jennsu. Inuyasha had jumped down with Kagome, and everyone else rode Kilala – except Kurama, who was easily maneuvering from foothold to foothold down the cliff.

"Show off," Suki muttered under her breath.

Amaya rolled her eyes.

By the time he had reached the bottom, Aki had managed to calm down Kuwabara by tripping him and then tackling him to the ground, much like she and Moriko had done to Kurama.

"It's shallow," she said, standing on his back. "It'll be fine."

"Yeah, sure," he said, his face pressed into the ground.

"Aki, Moriko," said Botan, "come inside the tent!"

The Spirit Guide was nearly shaking with excitement, a grin on her face.

Aki looked at her curiously.

"Uh, okay," she said, brushing herself off. Looking around, she spotted the tent only a couple yards away. Moriko shrugged and walked in, pulling back the flap of cloth. Aki followed her.

The inside was fairly roomy, Aki thought as she observed her surroundings. There were several unlit lanterns about the tent, and large table in the middle. There was no floor, so the grass covered the bottom. As she took another step in, Aki bumped into Moriko.

"What the-" Aki said, brushing one of her friend's tails out of her face. She stopped, seeing the expression on the vixen's face. Aki followed her astounded gaze to the corner.

"Oh my god," she gasped. "Oh my god."

Moriko stepped back.

"Aki…"

"Oh my god, Moriko."

Aki shook her head and blinked, making sure that what she saw was real. Even though it was still there, she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Aki!" her parents exclaimed, rushing up to her.

It was as if they had never died. Looking at them, everything seemed the same. Their faces, their expressions, their presence. Next to them were Moriko's parents, the same as ever.

"Aki, we're so sorry we put you through this…" her mother started, reaching towards Aki. But before she touched her, Aki had backed away. Her parents were here…it was almost too good to be true. But…this _was_ the Spirit World…wouldn't her parents be here? But if these really were her parents…

"Crap!" she shouted, covering her tiger ears. Just as she was halfway through her human transformation, Moriko held up a hand to stop her.

"These aren't our parents."

Aki looked at her.

"What?"

"These _aren't _our _parents._ They're fakes! They have to be! Just fucking fa-"

"Moriko! Don't you dare use that tongue in front of me, young lady!" her mother scolded.

Moriko blinked, stunned.

"Mom?" she asked disbelievingly, her eyes widening.

"Hey, Moriko," her father said, "you're looking good! After this mess is done, you're going to have to show me some of those demon moves of yours."

"Holy Hell…" she said, quoting Aki.

Aki grinned with pure joy.

"Mr. and Mrs. Seithr," Kurama greeted, ducking under the door flap.

"Hello, Kurama," Aki's father responded.

Aki whipped around.

"You found my parents?"

"Well, I asked around-"

He was cut off by Aki tackling him in a hug.

"Thank you, thank you! Oh my god, I love you!"

Kurama blushed.

"They're your parents, it's easy to see you wanted them back…" he mumbled.

Aki turned to her parents again. She smiled and hugged them both. After she had stepped away, she realized that she was crying.

She smiled and sniffed. Looking at Moriko, Aki saw that she was still on the floor, staring at her family, who were looking at her with some concern. She looked behind her, where everyone else was filing into the tent, more than half with amazed looks on their faces.

At that moment, she realized this was more than a game. This war would decide the rest of everyone's lives…and afterlives. Everyone here was all that she could ever need to be happy. Everyone here was her life… and she would give her life to save theirs. Aki stepped up to the table and grabbed the pencil lying next to a blank scroll.

"We've got work to do," she said, turning to everyone. "And lives to save."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was night in the Spirit World. No moon could be found in the dark, starless sky, nothing cast light on the battlefield below, where an army slept. The only thing that made eyesight possible were the various torches scattered around the camp like fireflies.

Aki looked over the soldiers from atop the cliff, alone. From where she sat, she could view the entire expanse of the camp and beyond, ending only at the horizon. Every now and then, her eyes would be drawn to guards carrying torches and patrolling. Occasionally, quiet bits of conversation would reach her demon ears, reminding her that a good number of the soldiers were not asleep. But, as far as she knew, no one had spotted her up here yet. That was the reason that she had climbed up here – to be undisturbed. Aki was a natural introvert, and with all that was hanging over her head she had felt it even more so. She looked at her watch. It read 3:36, but she had guessed that it stopped working once she had come to the Spirit World. As far as she could tell, what with no moon overhead to guide her guess, it was well past midnight. But sleep escaped her grasp tonight, and she had expected no less.

Aki turned her eyes towards the base of the cliff, where her eyes had strayed to most in the hours that she had been sitting there. Moriko, Suki, and Amaya were all asleep, leaning against each other in sort of a triangle. Next to them were Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Kilala, Kohaku, and Shippo. She knew that they did not need to sleep, but Aki believed that even if they were ghosts, sleep was the best temporary cure for stress, and she had insisted that they at least try to rest. They did, and the tigress was glad to see them asleep. She looked down upon the tent, where she knew her and Moriko's parents were sleeping. Aki shook her head and leaned back on the grass. She knew that Botan, Jennsu, Tai, Alex, Kurama, and Hiei were some of the guards walking around.

Aki heaved a sigh. It was kind of laughable really, an average girl like her being hurled into this mess without any warning at all. But, talking to Kagome, it sounded like she had had the same experience. Suddenly, she jumped to her feet and whipped around.

"Koga, what is it?" Aki asked, relieved at the sight of the wolf demon.

"I thought you might have been a spy," said Koga, crossing his arms, "I saw you from down there."

"Sorry."

"Here," he held out something to her. She took it from him and looked at it.

"Armor?" she asked.

"Yeah, put it on before you go to sleep, if you ever do."

"Thank you."

Koga shrugged and leaped off the side. Aki didn't know what Inuyasha had been so worked up about – Koga seemed to be a nice guy, if not a bit egotistical. And he had helped them all to come up with a plan…

She weighed the armor in her hands – it was fairly heavy. Aki set it down and pulled the breast plate over her head. It fit a bit loosely, but it would be fine. She slipped on the chain mail gauntlets and then clipped another piece of chain mail around her neck, so her bare skin was covered. Taking the hair tie that she wore around her wrist, she pulled her hair back into a pony tail so that it wouldn't be in her face.

'_When it's a matter of life or death…_' she thought, sitting down again.

All of a sudden she felt extremely weary and aged.

"Oh my god, it's actually happening," she said out loud. "This is actually real."

She didn't know what she had expected – maybe to wake up and realize that it was all a dream.

"But that's too damn cliché to happen in real life," she said, making her way to the edge of the cliff. Sleep slowly worming its way through her mind, she climbed down the side and stepped onto the grass. Quietly, she walked over to where her friends were and laid down next to them. This was all too insane…yet even demons needed to sleep…

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Aki was wading through a river, her eyes fixed on the sword directly ahead of her. She flinched at the icy water beating against her skin, but she couldn't stop, not when she was so close… Suddenly, an enormous beast jumped over her and landed on the other side. Aki gasped – it was a white tiger. Without sparing a glance at her, it grasped the sword in its jaws and ran off into the forest.

"Wait!" Aki called after it, "Wait!" But she couldn't move, the water was rising rapidly, now up to her waist.

"Wait!"

She was overtaken by the current and swept off her feet. She tried to swim against the raging water but could not remember how.

"Wait! Wait for me!"

"Aki!"

"Wait!"

"AKI!"

Aki snapped awake, her heart pounding like a drum. Moriko's face swam slowly into view above her.

"The battle's starting!"

AiShi: Okay, I just found out that I might _not _be in Adv. Language when all summer I thought I was… Just perfect… I can't believe school starts in eight days… #sigh# Once again, sorry this was so late, everybody. Like I said, relatives and vacation… But, I found the cure for minor writer's block! Rosemary and olive oil Triscuits! Damn those things are good. On a stranger note... I can't seem to add gray lines like I usually do.

**WHAT ARE YOU GIVING ME THIS RING FOR? SHOULD I PUT IT ON NAPKINS?**


	20. And the Authoress Said Let There Be War!

AiShi: Yeah, school started…first year of highschool…it's not bad, really. I like all my teachers and such. #sigh# It seems like just yesterday I was bragging to you all about being released for the summer… #sigh#

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Aki snapped awake, jumping to her feet.

"Mor, hurry and go make sure that everyone's ready and in position, then go to yours."

Moriko nodded and then sped off, weaving and dodging between the soldiers hurrying to their places. Seeing everyone had already left, Aki dashed into the tent.

"Mom, Dad, the war's start-" Her voice trailed off as she saw her parents were gone.

She froze.

"Aki!" Shippo said, tugging at her pant leg. "Aki, they went off to fight!"

Aki looked back at the tent flap, where she could hear frantic footsteps and the clanging of metal. It was still dark out.

"Godammit all!" she cursed, slamming her fist on the wooden table. She couldn't go after them.

"Moriko's parents went, too!" Shippo said, worried at Aki's reaction. "They followed Kagome and the others."

"Shippo…" Aki knelt down to pick him up. "Stay with me."

The fox nodded and jumped onto her shoulder.

Without a second look at the tent, Aki ran outside. She was blinded temporarily by a torch shining in her face and blinked.

"Aki, come on!" Miroku said, motioning for her to follow him.

"I'll be there in a minute, I have to do something!" she told him, starting to run towards the cliff, "Make sure everything's ready!" she yelled behind her. Aki didn't have time to hear his answer before she disappeared into the crowd.

"Aki, where are you going?" Shippo asked, grabbing onto her armor to steady himself.

Aki didn't answer.

"Hold on!" she yelled. Suddenly, the tigress crouched and leapt into the air. She extended her claws and slashed the cliff side, scrabbling madly with her feet to find a foothold. Once she found one, she jumped straight up the side of the cliff once more. With one more jump, they landed safely on the grass at the top. Aki set Shippo down.

"Stay here and stay hidden. Don't you dare come down from this cliff until one of us come to get you."

"What?" Shippo said indignantly, even though he seemed relieved.

"You heard me."

Aki got to her feet and turned to see the battlefield spread out before her. There was no distinguishing between the different groups of soldiers, but Aki knew where each regiment was…or should be. Up front she spotted Inuyasha, Koga, and Miroku within the mass of people. Kurama and Hiei were a ways behind them, at the front of the second group. Low in the air, Aki saw Sango, Kohaku, and Kilala, all hovering above the rest of the demon slayers. Focusing her eyes a bit, she could barely make out Kagome and the other archers hiding within the trees at the edge of their field. Suki and Amaya were near the back, the groups they were leading pressed up against the cliff. Kuwabara was with them. Tai and Alex were both along the edges of the trees, one on either side of the field. Yusuke was directly in the middle with Botan and Jennsu.

Aki squinted her eyes again and searched the entire field. Where was Moriko? She was supposed to be up front with Inuyasha, but Aki couldn't find her anywhere near there.

"Moriko, you dumbass," Aki swore under her breath. This was the worst time she could have chosen to run off like an idiot.

"Aki, there are you parents!" Shippo shouted suddenly, pointing.

Aki followed his finger down to where her parents were standing, surrounded by the other soldiers. They both had a kind of leather armor on, and were holding swords, looking gravely forward.

"Those idiots!" Aki said, growling. "Shippo, don't follow me – I'm not joking."

Shippo folded his arms, but said nothing.

Aki gave him a warning glare and then started to climb down the cliff.

"Aki-chan!"

The tigress turned to see Botan flying to her.

"Botan, my parents are down there!" Aki told her, pointing to them. "Can you get them away?"

"Sure, here, get on." She flew close to the cliff so that Aki could jump onto her oar.

"Just drop me off at the bottom!" said Aki, grabbing onto Botan's shoulders.

Before Botan could nod, she flew off at top speed, pausing at the bottom of the cliff for Aki to jump off.

"Oh, and, I came to find you because the enemy has been spotted, they can be seen on the horizon."

Aki waved Botan off.

"Go! Go get my parents!"

Botan nodded and rocketed out of sight. Without sparing a passing glance Aki sprinted in a different direction through the soldiers.

'_Sesshomaru still isn't here, that bastard, so his group has no leader. I was supposed to be with Inuyasha, but his brother's left me no damn choice._'

At that moment, something red flashed by her.

"What the-"

Aki sped up, trying to keep the blur in sight. What if it was with the enemy? She ran faster, trying not to run into anyone. Suddenly, the thing stopped. Aki was running too fast to slow down, and, naturally, tripped over the red creature and was sent flying head first into a cheetah. Aki sat up and rubbed her head. In front of her was a fox. It glared at her.

'_Watch where you're going, will you?_'

"Mor? Moriko, come on!" Aki yelled, picking her up.

"Let go!" she said, transforming back to her human-demon form. Aki released her. "Just what the hell were you doing? Let's get our butts moving!" she said.

Aki started to follow her, but the cheetah that she had fallen onto nudged her back.

"I have to go! The battle's star-" She fell onto the cheetah as it flipped her onto its back. Only when Aki straightened up did she realize that this cheetah was three times bigger than a normal one. That, and the fact that its spots were flaming.

"Demon cheetah?"

It nodded and ran off after Moriko, almost making Aki fly off backwards. Within seconds, the cat screeched to a halt and stood at attention. Aki opened her eyes.

They were at the front line, the rest of the battlefield stretched out endlessly before her. She soon realized that time was running short – Hell's armies could be seen clearly, ugly swarms of demons writhing and squirming towards them. Aki jumped off of the cheetah and turned to the Spirit World's forces. Every human, animal, and demon wore stony faces, gazing steadily at their enemy. They were ready to fight.

Aki took a moment to breathe.

'_At your command, Skriata,_' the demon cheetah told her. It bowed and lowered its head.

Moriko crossed her arms.

"Well, Aki," she said, not turning to her friend, "remind me how I got here again?"

Aki smiled.

"I believe it was the knowledge that you would be living with guilt the rest of your life if you weren't here, Moriko."

"Naturally." The vixen stepped forward. "HEY! HEY, YOU!" she screamed across the field. "COME AND GET ME YOU HEAVEN REJECTS!" Moriko spread out her arms. "RIGHT HERE! BASTARDS!"

Several of the soldiers behind Moriko started to mutter.

"Don't taunt them, you idiot!" one yelled angrily.

"Watch your place," Aki said coolly.

It glared at her.

"She already ruined it, why don't we just attack now?"

"We'll wait!" Aki snarled, a bit of Skriata's temper showing through. "You weren't a part of our strategy! Don't act like you know anything!" She turned to the field to see that the opposing army had drawn steadily closer. As she observed its ranks, it halted - roughly twenty acres away. Massive demons swarmed their side, some taller than the trees. Then, soaring above the other demons, Aki sighted a feather.

Kagura was on it.

Aki tensed, and she felt Moriko do the same. Some of the animals behind them grew uneasy, some pawing at the ground, others making distressed noises.

The wind witch's laugh floated over the plain. She pointed her fan lazily at the Spirit army.

She smirked at Aki's nervous gaze.

"Kill them all."

The effect was instantaneous. Demons screeched and wailed, filling the air with their foul battle cries. The sound was accompanied by the rumble of heavy footfall.

This was it.

"Positions!" Aki called out. She heard her command being echoed by Botan, who spread it to all of the other leaders on her oar. The distance between her and the enemy was closing fast. The shing of metal told her that weapons had been drawn.

"Fire, first set!" she shouted. Immediatly, a barrage of arrows rose from both forests lining the sides, raining down on the charging demons. More than one were spiritually powered, casting blue streaks through the sky. The demons who hadn't been injured still raged toward Aki.

"Fire, second set!" More beasts were rendered helpless and fell to the ground as a cloud of arrows pierced their flesh.

Hell was now immensely closer, ranging at about eighty feet…fifty feet…

"Steady!" she commanded. Her voice quavered slightly.

"Just what the hell are you doing?" several soldiers yelled, panicking at the distance rapidly closing.

"Atta-!" Aki was cut off, dodging Kagura's wind blades.

"ATTACK!" Moriko screamed, sending her own energy back at Kagura.

Soldiers leaped forward to meet the demons head-on, unleashing their own attacks, whether demonic or physical. Aki rushed with them, attacking with her own demon energy blades. Screeches of pain replaced the battle cries, but Aki barely heard them. She slashed and ripped at every attacking foe she could reach. She and the other soldiers at the front line fought the demons back, making sort of a barrier.

"Fire at will!" Aki heard Moriko yell as she took down a giant snake. Arrows and spears struck the ranks of Hell that Aki couldn't reach. She killed another demon and then dodged through the enemies so she was beside Moriko.

Without saying a word, the two joined back-to-back and unleashed a mighty wave of red and green energy upon the enemy, slaughtering more than a hundred. Demons who had been about to attack them disintegrated, leaving their path clear.

Free of attackers for the moment, Aki and Moriko whipped their eyes up to Kagura, who was staring coldly down at them from her feather.

"Pests like you should be exterminated," she spat, "it's too bad I'm the only one who can handle the job!" The two demons dodged another barrage of her deadly winds.

"Did you find your parents?" she sneered, "Were you _overjoyed_ to see them?"

"Shut _up_!" Aki snapped, as her attack missed.

"How will it feel once you lose them again, I wonder? I'll make sure that you won't have much time to ponder over the matter!"

She dove at them. Aki dodged, jumping above her. Moriko grabbed the end of her feather and yanked it out from under her. Kagura expertly landed, narrowly avoiding a midair kick from Aki.

"Dance of the Dr-!"

Suddenly, a huge boomerang fell out of the sky, crashing in front of her and ripping up the ground. It flew back into the air to be grabbed by Sango.

"Now!" she yelled.

They didn't need a command. Moriko was at the witch's throat in a second. Kagura barely dodged, stepping back only to stumble over Aki's ankle. No one heard her silent scream as Aki and Moriko plunged their claws into her flesh while she was still suspended in midair. Time seemed to slow down as she gazed down at them, her crimson eyes empty. Then, she evaporated into nothing, seeming to blow away like her body was made of sand. Moriko stayed in her hunched position, Aki knelt on the ground.

"Goodbye, Kagura," she whispered, her voice trembling.

Moriko gazed at her friend emotionlessly, then ran back to battle the demons with renewed strength. Aki still stared at the place where Kagura had disappeared. A flash of gold snapped her out of her trance.

"Aki, what are you doing?" Miroku asked, slicing a centipede that was about to attack her in two with his staff.

"I-" She rolled to the side as a scorpion struck at her. The tigress smashed its exoskeleton with a kick and then slashed through it. Aki jumped to her feet and shattered a floating skull with a punch.

"You were supposed to be at the front lines!" he said, parrying an eagle humanoid. Aki beheaded it while it was distracted.

"Sesshomaru didn't show up! I had to take command of his group with Moriko," she told him.

"Why were you kneeling? Are you hurt?" he asked, slicing the tentacle off another demon.

"No, I'm fine. Goddammit there are too many!" she swore, barely avoiding a scythe aimed at her head. "Miroku, use your wind tunnel!"

"I would, but I don't have a chance!" He stabbed an ogre in the throat.

"Is that all you need? Put up a shield!" Aki said.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" she snapped. "Now!"

He looked ready to argue, but clasped his hands and closed his eyes. A shimmering silver sphere took shape around him.

Aki shut her own eyes.

'_Let's try this out,_' she thought, focusing her energy. Flames of green power rose around her, engulfing her body. Immeasurable pressure was building inside her chest, growing almost unbearable. Aki grit her teeth.

All at once, she released control.

It was as if someone had dropped a bomb. Everything in her path disintegrated, disappearing in the green blaze. Aki collapsed as the light faded, hardly having enough strength to stand up. The ground was barren before her, a crater replacing the grass. Demons around the edges started to swarm across the dirt.

Miroku stepped in front of her and loosed the beads around his hand.

"Wind Tunnel!" he shouted, opening his palm.

Its power was amazing. Raging winds sucked the demons from the skies and the ground, hurling them into the void. The vortex engulfed massive numbers of the enemy, sucking the field dry of any attackers. Aki dug her claws into the ground as she felt herself being tugged off the ground. Then, she felt a hand clasp around hers – Kurama pulled her back down. Suddenly, Miroku stumbled.

"No, blast it!" he cursed, wrapping the beads around his arm.

Aki looked around the monk. There, hovering not twenty feet away, was a man. Long, tangled black hair waved like snakes around the body of a man. He certainly wasn't human – tentacles and various appendages sprouted out of his back. Cold, blood red eyes fixed loosely on Aki. A miasma thick with evil coated the air, making her mind foggy. Demon wasps swarmed around the man. A shield was raised, surrounding him in a violet globe.

"Miroku."

Aki shivered at the icy voice.

"My, my, how the years have passed…" The thing laughed.

"Naraku…" Miroku said, disgusted.

This was Naraku. This was the cause of everything. This was what had to be killed.

A low growl rumbled in Aki's throat, her eyes shining with hate. She loathed her immobility, all she wanted was to rip this thing's throat out.

'_Moriko_,' she called out in her mind.

'_Aki, where are you? Is that Naraku?_'

'_Moriko, I need energy,_' Aki said, ignoring the questions.

'_Aki, where _are _you?_' she asked again.

'_I'm right in front of the bastard and I can't move! I need your help!_'

'_Hang on._'

After a moment, Aki felt her weariness gradually wear thin – Moriko was giving Aki her own energy.

"Naraku, you bastard!" Inuyasha ran in front of them, brandishing Tetsusaiga.

"Inuyasha, the same as ever."

"You better believe it!" the half-demon growled.

Aki didn't buy the fact that Naraku hadn't noticed her. She knew he was biding his time. She slowly shifted. Kurama tightened his hold on her wrist and gave her a warning look. Aki pulled away. The energy flow from Moriko stopped. It was now or never. The tigress ran a measuring gaze over Naraku's barrier and found what she was looking for.

Now.

Aki burst from the ground, ignoring the swift jolt of pain in her knees. She needed to end this now, before others got hurt. None of the demons behind Naraku even noticed her as she raced across the open field. She could end this all in one blow…

"Die," she hissed, raising her claws for the attack.

"AKI!" someone screamed.

She turned, but too slow. Aki never had a chance to dodge the spear-like leg that impaled her through the throat.

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AiShi: Bwahaha, and so ends the story of GWDGF…XD Just kidding, peeps. I think I might update sometime between now and September seventh though, so you may wanna keep an eye out for that. Besides that, it's Sunday night and tomorrow I have a test over Europe, a three page rough-draft due, and a Geometry test. And another test in Art…but that's either going to be pointless or a piece of cake. But now I've got Europe down pat…THE CAPITAL OF ICELAND IS REYKJAVIK! LUXEMBURG IS LOCATED BETWEEN GERMANY, FRANCE, AND BELGEIM! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPELL BELGEIM!

DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL HOTDOG


	21. And War Happened

AiShi: SSL, people. Sorry So Late. It's kind of late for me to be thinking up an abbreviation for the apology, since GWDGF will be ending soon, but what the hey… I think that this was one of the easiest chapters to write, I'm not sure why because I think I suck at describing action scenes…I'm too wordy and not to the point. And now that I've pointed that out, all of you will immediately notice it and completely agree, saying that you noticed it from the beginning of my story and that I should really work on it more. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. Enjoy anyway!

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A harsh scream groggily awoke Aki. She felt numb, and couldn't summon enough strength to open her eyes.

"What the…?" she murmured. Her neck was throbbing with a dull pain. She tried to reach up to rub it, but her arm wouldn't move. The screaming hadn't gone away, and it was starting to annoy her.

"Be quiet!" she wanted to say, but her voice was just a rasp – the tigress could barely get the sound out. Now the screaming turned to angry shouts. Aki dully wondered what the hell was going on. She tried to open her eyes again, but failed. She tried to move, but her body felt like it was covered in cement.

'_Well, this is annoying,_' she thought to herself.

Suddenly, she felt something jerk her back, throwing her down onto something hard – but she wasn't hurt. In fact, her neck had stopped paining her… and she could move!

Her tail twitched. After a relieved pause she opened her eyes.

And saw her own lifeless eyes staring back.

She shrieked and leaped to her feet, stumbling away from her own corpse. (AiShi: This is fun to write!) She fell back on the grass, shaking.

"Aki!" A hand clasped on her shoulder, causing her to jerk vilolently.

"W-Wha…?"

"Oh my god, you're alive!" Amaya exclaimed.

Aki twitched.

"THE EFFING HELL I'M ALIVE!" she screamed. "JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK MY EAD BODY IS DOING OVER THERE, SPEARED ON THAT FREAKSHOW OF A DEMON?" She was hyperventilating now, until she realized that she wasn't actually breathing.

"Watch it!"

Aki rolled to the side as something struck the ground where she was. It was another of Naraku's spear-like appendages. Moriko tackled Aki, shoving her away as another attack was aimed for her.

"Goddammit, don't you dare get killed again!" she snarled.

Inuyasha charged at Naraku, his sword glowing red.

"Go back to Hell, Naraku!" he yelled, slashing Tetsusaiga right at Naraku's head. The barrier propelled him back as he struck.

"Dammit! It doesn't work!" he cursed, regaining his balance.

"Get out of here," Moriko said coldly, pushing Aki back as she stood up. "You'll get in the way."

Aki blinked, wondering what brought that reprimand on and was about to respond angrily when Moriko contacted her over the mental link.

'_Go get Kagome, I'll cover for you,_' she said, giving her a pointed look.

Aki was taken aback for a moment, then regained her composure and glared back at the fox.

"When you die, don't you _dare_ come running to me!" she snapped.

"This is hardly the time to be fighting with each other!" said Kurama, annoyed at their childish behavior, not aware that it was all an act.

"Leave it, Kurama." Moriko returned Aki's ice-cold stare with vigor and snapped, "Just get out of here!"

"With pleasure!" Aki turned on her heel and sprinted away, leaving them to hold off Naraku.

'_Kagome, where are you?_' Aki thought to herself as she dashed through demon and human battles alike, dodging various kicks and punches and dancing through weapons and claws. There were only a few arrows falling from the sky, landing either in the grass or through the enemy. Aki kept her eyes on these, looking for one with a blue tail. She was running toward the forest, hoping that Kagome had stayed relatively close to lead the archers into battle.

Suddenly, she heard a low whistle. She slammed herself to the ground as something white hot blew over her. Its energy shocked her, but otherwise she was unaffected.

"Aki!" Two hands pulled her up to her feet.

"Kagome!"

Aki pushed her back as a dragon's claw landed between them. She stuck her own claws through its scales. Kagome fired another arrow as an ogre advanced on her.

"Kagome, we need your help with Naraku!" Aki said.

"Naraku's here?"

"We need you!"

Kagome nodded and ran ahead of Kagome, trying not to push too many people out of her way.

'_Kilala!_' Aki yelled in her mind, trying to reach the cat demon.

'_We know about Naraku, Sango and I are here with Inuyasha and Moriko,_' she replied. Her voice was tired; strained. '_Where are you?_'

Aki cast a worried glance to the sky ahead.

'_I'm coming with Kagome, just hang on._'

Aki sped up, moving through the crowd like water. Kagome followed her.

Suddenly, Aki's ears twitched. She looked behind her, quickly jumping out of the way as a tornado blew by her. It had swept Kagome off her feet. The tigress snatched up her friend's bow and arrows that she had dropped and ran after Koga, glad that he had showed up.

Aki stumbled as she felt Naraku's evil aura surround her, but got back to her feet. Aki didn't run after Kagome again, but instead sprinted off in a different direction, circling around where Naraku was. She could barely see him in the distance, his shield blazing like violet fire, occasionally rippling where he was being repeatedly attacked. Aki needed to get in position for a surprise attack. If done right, this could win the whole battle for them.

If done right.

If not, Aki wouldn't like to think about it. She circled from a distance, keeping her eyes on Naraku. He hadn't noticed her. The spider was too busy with the numerous attacks raining down upon him. She moved faster, keeping low to the ground.

It was all laid out before her, everything she needed to do to take him down. Half of it wasn't guaranteed to work. The other half wasn't going to work.

Aki stopped as she found herself entirely behind Naraku, roughly an American football field's length away. She bent down and ran at him, streaking across the grass with the speed of a freight train. He hadn't seen her, no one had seen her. She drew back her claws.

"WIND SCAR!"

"NO!" She leaped back as the rush of energy surged towards her, ripping up chunks of ground and shredding the grass. As she somersaulted back, she barely saw the attack hit Naraku head-on.

The barrier held strong.

"Interesting… even combined you can do nothing at all…"

Aki jumped up in anger and started towards him.

"You actually believe you could do any better than Inuyasha, Skriata? Great white tiger demon?"

"Stay back, Aki!" Inuyasha pushed her aside.

"I'm helping!" she snapped.

"Look out!"

Something pink exploded in her face right before one Naraku's attacks reached her. She bounced back as elastic-like blob blew out.

"Hang on!" the thing said.

"Shippo!" Kagome exclaimed.

"Shippo?" Aki looked at the thing.

Suddenly, they were both thrown back as one of Naraku's tentacles swept them away.

"His heel!" Suki suddenly shouted. Everyone turned to look at her.

"There! At his left heel his barrier's weak!" She pointed frantically at where she saw the shield flicker.

Without a word, Inuyasha fired his Wind Scar, followed immediately by Moriko and Amaya's own energy attacks.

The barrier shattered, disappearing into the air.

"Yes!" Shippo cheered, popping back into his true form. Sango's boomerang whipped through the air, catching Naraku in his chest. He bent over, his eyes wide. Koga wasted no time in barraging the demon with his own rapid kicks. Naraku didn't counter, but instead shut his eyes in concentration.

"Careful! He's trying to recreate his shield!" Aki yelled, throwing herself at her murderer.

"Not gonna happen!" Moriko snarled, following Aki and Suki into the fray. With Amaya, they pinned him down, sinking their claws into his flesh. A cloud of poison sprayed out from the punctures. Aki's eyes and throat burned, feeling like fire, but she held on tight.

"You idiot, get out of there!" Moriko shouted, leaping away from the toxic gas.

"Aki!" Amaya and Suki yelled.

Aki ignored them. She could now feel her whole body absorbing the poison.

"Die again, Naraku," she snarled, plunging her other hand into the demon's chest.

He laughed.

"If you think that's going to stop me…"

"It won't!" she yelled. "But it will help in the long run!"

"Now, Kagome!" Moriko yelled.

Kagome stretched her bow string back to the limit, then let the arrow fly. Spiritual energy spiraled from the tip, streaking through the air. It hit Naraku straight on. Aki released him and leaped out of the way as Inuyasha followed.

"WIND SCAR!"

The attack hit soon, the aftermath propelling Aki backwards. She fell onto something soft. Looking down, she saw it was the demon cheetah from earlier.

'_Good job, Skriata._'

As the blinding light of the two attacks combined faded, everyone could see the scorched crater, empty. A small miasma leaked from the middle, barely noticeable. A small slip of paper flew to the ground and disintegrated in a lick of blue flame.

"It's over," Miroku said.

Aki looked over her shoulder to see the demons of Naraku vaporize, echoey screams barely loud enough to hear littering the battlefield. Soldiers fell to their knees, exhausted. She saw women fighters weep for their lost family and friends. She gently rolled off of the cheetah. She limped up to her.

'_It was an honor to serve you,_' she said, bowing her head.

Aki looked at her friends, the various wounds across their faces, and their ripped and dirty clothes. Kagome sat down on the grass, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Inuyasha knelt, shoving Tetsusaiga deep into the dirt.

"We won! We won!" she heard Botan and Jennsu shout, flying toward them.

Aki turned her gaze towards Moriko, Suki, and Amaya. They all looked back at her with weary eyes, sharing the same thought as everyone else. Aki let Shippo jump into her arms. Unconsciously, she held him tight.

_It's over._

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AiShi: IT'S NOT OVER! Not for another update anyway. Wow, it's all coming to an end... It's kind of relieving. Not that I don't love ya all. I really do. Otherwise, not much to say...

AND THERE I WAS, SPEEDING DOWN THE HIGHWAY AT 60 MILES PER HOUR IN A CARDBOARD BOX.


	22. An Epilogue of Reflections

AiShi: Hey, guess what?

It's the last chapter.

No, I am not kidding you. I can hardly believe it myself, to tell the truth. I'm sure the realization will hit me in a week or so…

Anyway, you peeps know what would make me so extremely happy right now? If everyone who is reading this right now reviewed. I mean, I almost never ask for reviews, and I really would like to see how many people followed his to the end. If you don't want to use to review, you can email me. AJaydeDragontameremail. This is the last time I'm using a disclaimer for this fanfiction!

Disclaimer: …Seriously, if I could ever buy the InuYasha rights…But, I can't, so therefore I don't own InuYasha, or YuYu-Hakusho. IF YOU WANT TO SELL THE RIGHTS, I'LL BUY! I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH IT COSTS! I do own Aki, Moriko, etc.

* * *

Aki laughed as she ran down the sidewalk, the cool, crisp air of October in the sky.

"Come on! You guys are so slow!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Aki, we just got heeeere," Suki complained. Suddenly, her tail popped out.

"Suki!" Jennsu exclaimed.

"Huh? Oh, whoops. Damn thing…" she muttered, making it disappear again.

"Sooooo, Jennsu? How's life again?"

"I'm thoroughly enjoying it," she said, smiling. Her Japanese had improved drastically ever since she had been living with Suki, posing as a 'foreign exchange student'. Aki had to say, she played the role well.

"Oh, that reminds me," Moriko said, grabbing Aki by the hood of her sweatshirt so that she was jerked back. "I'm coming over to your house this weekend. My parents told me to beat it while the movers bring in all our new furniture."

"How did what Jenn say remind you of that?" Aki asked, rubbing her neck.

Moriko laughed.

"You'll never find out."

"So, just where the hell is Kurama's house, anyway?" Amaya asked, shifting the backpack on her shoulders.

"Umm… that's a good question…" Moriko said. "Hang on…" She pulled a cell phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. "…What's his phone?"

Aki immediately spouted off a set of numbers.

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"And how did you know that?" Moriko asked disbelievingly.

"I found it out from Mrs. Minamo," Aki lied.

Moriko looked straight at her.

"Okay, now the truth."

"I-Well, he didn't ask me out, if that's what you're thinking!" she sputtered, turning red.

"He did, though, didn't he?"

"…Hey, Mor? Would now be a bad time to ask if I can date your brother?"

"Aki, you can marry him for all I care, just don't die again. Jesus Christ, Koenma gave you so much shit for dying…"

"And I had to scrape that entire castle clean, but I suppose that's what I get for doing such an excellent job cleaning his office. Eh, whatever, I'm alive now."

"Hell, everyone's alive now. What was Kurama's number again?" Moriko dialed as Aki told her the numbers and waited for someone to pick up. "Hi, Shiori-sama? It's Moriko. Yeah, we're having trouble finding your house. Oh, okay, Beri Street? Alright, okay, I think we can find our way now. Thank you! Bye." She closed the phone. "5362 Beri Street."

"Jesus Christ, I think this goddamn thing just got heavier!" Amaya said, complaining about her backpack.

"Umm…no…" said Aki, looking up. "A demon just landed on it."

"Hiya, Hiei!" Moriko yelled, grinning up at the fire demon.

"Hn." He landed on the sidewalk. "The fox asked me to help you idiots."

"Yay! A tour guide!" cheered Suki. She received an icy glare, but didn't seem to notice.

"You guys go on ahead – I have something I need to do," said Aki, shifting her own bookbag on her shoulders.

"What is it? We'll come with you," Jennsu offered.

"No, it's okay. You guys go on ahead – I'll be there in an hour."

"Whatever. Don't get yourself killed…again."

Aki laughed.

"You're never gonna let me live that down…" She accepted the piece of paper with Kurama's address that Moriko was holding out.

"Quit making puns and get going."

Aki grinned and waved as they disappeared around a corner, and then turned and walked the other way. She smiled to herself and skipped a little, but almost ran into a woman and decided against it.

'_Do you ever get the feeling that it's a perfect day?_' Aki said, waiting for the streetlight to change.

'_If I do, it's gotta be today,_' Moriko answered.

'_Yep._' Aki crossed the road and continued on her way. She watched the orange and yellow leaves swirl to the ground. It was hard to believe that it had been a whole week since the battle.

"May it never happen again," she muttered.

Autumn was well on its way coming to Tokyo. Shriveled, brown clusters of leaves coated the bushes, while golden colors hung heavily from the trees. People were bundled up in their new winter coats and rakes were leaning against the gates of houses lining the streets. Aki breathed deeply.

"Let's see…" she said, digging in her pocket. She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "So I'm looking for the Higurashi Shrine…" She looked around for any sign, but saw nothing.

A squeaking sound made her turn her head. An old man was turning the corner, picking his walker up every time he stepped forward. Aki thought he looked like the stereotypical old man that made weekly visits to a favorite shrine.

"Excuse me," she said, walking up to him, "do you know where the Higurashi Shrine is?"

The man jumped at being addressed.

"Wer, ich?"

Aki backed up a step.

"Umm…"

"Wie heiBt du?"

"Uh, I speak Japanese…" Aki said nervously in English, hoping for a response she actually understood.

"Ah! All you rampant young folk!" the man said in fluent Japanese. "Young Japs trying to be hip and cool!"

Aki backed away. Crazy old men were _not_ native to Nagoya. Especially multi-lingual ones.

"E-excuse me?"

The old man moved his walker down the street again, seeming to be running away, but only creating a squeak every time he moved.

"Higurashi Shrine!" Aki yelled after him. "Do you know where it is?"

He whipped around.

"Left, right, cross, right, second."

Aki blinked.

"Umm…thanks…" she edged around the corner with a fake smile on her face, then broke into a fast walk once out of the man's eyesight.

"Creepy…" she muttered. "Crazy old men shouldn't be walking down the sidewalk…" Aki stopped and thought for a moment.

"Well, I'm crazy too…eh, let's give it a try."

She recalled his directions and took a right turn up ahead, since she had already turned left. "Letsee…cross…" She crossed the road when the 'walk' sign flashed, then turned right. She had come to the less-crowded part of Tokyo now, where more houses were and less skyscrapers and business buildings. This part was much more welcoming.

Aki had only taken a few steps when she saw an old, wooden, weathered sign.

'Higurashi Shrine.'

"Well, may I be damned to a horrible death of suffocation by cheese, the old man was right!" She grinned and sprinted up the stairs. When she reached the top, Aki looked around with interest.

"Wow, she really does live in a shrine…"

"Are you here for blessings?"

Aki edged back as she saw another old man looking at her curiously.

"Uh, I, um, no. I'm one of Kagome-chan's friends."

"Gramps, you'd better not be trying to sell her anything."

Aki looked toward the house where Kagome had just closed the door behind her.

"Sorry, Aki, this is my grandpa," she said.

"It's nice to meet you," said Aki, bowing.

"Ah, we need more youngsters like you around. Are you interested in old religious artifacts? I'd like to show you some of the relics of our shrine, if you're interested. All sorts of heirlooms from ancient times…"

"Maybe later, Gramps," Kagome said, sweatdropping. She dragged a very confused Aki away into the well house and shut the door behind them.

"Sorry," she explained, "I told my family I met you at an antique store. If I told them I had actually died I'd never see the outside world again, much less the Feudal Era."

Aki smiled.

"It's just their way of showing they care." She looked down the well. "Is this it?"

"Yep, that's the well."

Aki paused and looked back up at Kagome.

"Are you trying to find Naraku now?"

"We have to." Kagome leaned on the well. "Remember? Koenma told us that it wasn't Sesshomaru that killed him after all. It's up to us."

Aki bristled at Sesshomaru's name. She had later found out that he had positioned himself in Hell's ranks and had led his own soldiers into battle, later betraying them. It still didn't make up for the fact that he had never mentioned his plan.

"Does Sango remember anything?"

"No, they had to reset time so she never died in the first place. Basically, she never went through any of it. We haven't told her."

Aki shook her head.

"Why didn't they just make it so that you guys never died in the first place?"

"What, and leave the Spirit World defenseless? Never learn all we learned here? Never meet you?" Kagome smiled. "And just why would we do that?"

Against her will, Aki felt her eyes water. She blinked the tears away.

"Hey, take these," she said, pulling a box out of her backpack and handing it to Kagome. She took off the lid.

"Oh, wow, cookies!" she exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, my mom made them…I'm a terrible cook."

They both laughed.

"They wanted me to tell you 'thank you', Aki."

Aki brushed her hair behind her ear.

"I'm really going to miss them." She sighed.

Kagome held out her hand.

"Give me your cell phone." Once Aki had handed it to her, she flipped it open and turned it on. After a few seconds, she gave it back. "I programmed my number in there. I already have yours."

Aki smiled.

"You'd better call me."

"It's the first thing I'll do every time I come back."

They hugged each other and pulled away. Tears made themselves known as they shimmered on Aki's cheeks.

"Tell them they had better write me a letter, or else!" she said, wiping her eyes.

Kagome hoisted her yellow bag onto her back.

"You can count on it." She dangled her legs over the side of the well.

"Bye, Aki."

"Bye."

Aki waved as her friend slid off the rim and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

"Bye…Kagome…"

She turned and left the empty well house, sliding the door shut after her. Red leaves fell around her, scattered from the ancient tree by a gust of wind. Aki cast her bright green eyes up to the sky as her brown, blonde-streaked hair caught in the wind. Her hands in her pockets, she started down the stone steps.

Things were going to be different now, that much was obvious. Besides changing her species, she also now had more newfound friends than she could name easily off the bat. She smiled as she thought about all of her old friends waiting for her at Kurama's, and she grinned as she envisioned what each one would say. It really was great, and she would miss everyone, but she knew it was worth it.

As she walked down the sidewalks of Tokyo, Aki was pretty sure that she had never felt so happy in either of her lives.

* * *

AiShi: …And so it ends. I really would like everyone to review. You know what? It's been exactly a year since I started this. No, I'm completely serious. This is ending on the same day it began. Pretty special, no?

Speaking sensibly, though, I had a lot of fun writing this. I think my writing has definitely approved, and now I plan to write an actual book. I have decided to become a novelist. Thanks to everyone who made this story even better, and a big round of applause to the characters that are not mine! Bravo! They worked with me well.

From now on, I believe my friend will be using my account to post her own ffs, and I would really appreciate it if you read them. Otherwise, I think works from my own hand might not be arriving for awhile, except for maybe a couple of one-shots if I get the inspiration. Once again, thank you all sooooooo much! Goodbye, peeps!

_**CIAO MI NAR-NARS!**_


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